Published: Dec. 9, 2024 at 3:38 PM
Watch the video and read the full article on Denver 7 News website.
Steve Carleton, Chief Clinical Officer at Porch Light Health, spoke with Denver 7 News about a reported overdose and extreme alcohol consumption at an off-campus CU Boulder fraternity.
Denver 7 News
At the top of the hour, we told you about six CU Boulder students who overdosed over the weekend at an off-campus fraternity house. Police say the men overdosed on cocaine that may have been tainted. All six are recovering and expected to survive. It happened at Kappa Sigma on Saturday, a fraternity that’s been expelled from the college. Investigators are looking into whether this was related to pledging at the fraternity.
Denver 7 News
We are joined now by Steve Carleton. Steve is a certified addiction specialist at Porch Light Health. Steve, thank Thank you so much for joining us. My pleasure.
Denver 7 News
Steve, these students were hospitalized because of suspected laced cocaine. We know cocaine can be laced with a lot of things, fentanyl, xylazine, and others. What are these other drugs? Do we know why cocaine is sometimes laced with these things?
Steve Carleton
It’s a great question. It’s something that people should really understand and know about. With all the substances out on the street right now, these are largely substances that are made in these clandestine labs. They’re all sorts of chemical mixtures, nothing organic, if you will. And people should really be aware at home. If you’re buying a list of drugs off the street, they might be intentionally laced with these substances like fentanyl or accidentally as well.
Denver 7 News
Steve, why is this mixing so deadly?
Steve Carleton
It’s so deadly because you’re mixing powerful substances that do multiple different things. Right now, what we’re seeing is really a fourth wave in this fentanyl crisis with not only opioids causing all these overdose deaths, but also stimulants, stimulant and opiate combinations. Those types of deaths are really going through the roof.
Denver 7 News
This is really shocking because it happened amongst students at a university. What should parents be talking about with their students and even teenagers about drugs?
Steve Carleton
I think the biggest thing people should be talking about is that if you’re going to parties and you’re out there socializing and you know that friends and other people at those parties are using drugs, people should be carrying Narcan. People should be testing drugs if they are choosing to experiment and do that type of thing. I think that’s really critical. Parents should understand that it’s not the people using these drugs that are going to administer the Narcan. It’s people that are not using these drugs that are going to be saving people’s lives.
Denver 7 News
If you have an adult in your life, a loved one who says, I’m an adult, I make my own choices, what’s the best way to approach this topic?
Steve Carleton
Well, I just think if you’re a parent right now, you probably grew up in the ’80s and ’90s when they really used a lot scare tactics about drugs. They told us that using drugs one time could kill us, and it wasn’t really that true then, and it is very true now that using one time can really kill you. For teens, teen and adolescent drug use is dropping, but the overdose rate is exponentially going up.
Denver 7 News
Really tough conversations. That could save a life. Steve Carleton for us tonight. Steve, thank you so much for joining us.
Steve Carleton
My pleasure.
Denver 7 News
Well, taking a closer look now at the fentanyl crisis. The law went into effect last year, creating harsher penalties for fentanyl dealers connected to deaths. Fentanyl overdoses claimed hundreds of lives in Colorado each year, but Denver 7 Investigates found that prosecutions under the new law have been rare. We sat down with the Sheriff of Arapajo County after the Department made its first arrests related to a fentanyl death.
Denver 7 News
These cases are very difficult and very time-consuming to prosecute. You have to track down how the individual who overdosed and unfortunately who accidentally died from the consumption of those narcotics, how they got their hands on it, whether it was through a social media platform, whether it was through somebody just on the street. So there’s a lot of work that goes into that.
Denver 7 News
For perspective, in Denver, the Second Judicial district has prosecuted six cases of fentanyl distribution causing death. Consumer investigator Jacquelyn Allen, found some cases are moving forward. She sat down with one family who says it’s sending a powerful message. Find her reporting and hear from a mother who fought to have her son’s case get to court on denverseven.com/investigates.
