Dr. Aneesh Naran stands outside the Banner University Medical Center emergency room after his shift, Oct. 7, 2024 in Phoenix.
“All of your normal physiological ways of coping with heat are compromised with the use of methamphetamines,” said Dr. Aneesh Narang, an emergency medicine physician at Banner University Medical Center in downtown Phoenix.
Narang, who sits on a board that reviews overdose fatalities, said the “vast majority” of the heat stroke patients seen in his hospital’s emergency department this summer had used street drugs, most commonly methamphetamine.
Because of its proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border, Phoenix is considered a “source city” where large amounts of newly smuggled meth are stored and packaged into relatively tiny doses for distribution, said Det. Matt Shay, a narcotics investigator with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
“It’s an amazing amount that comes in constantly every day,” Shay said. “It’s also very cheap.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized about 74,000 kilograms of meth at the U.S.-Mexico border this last fiscal year ending September 30, up from the 63,500 kilograms captured in the previous 12 months.
And sellers often target homeless people, Shay said.
“It’s a customer base that is easy to find and exploit,” Shay said. “If you’re an enterprising young drug dealer, all you need is some type of transportation and you just cruise around and they swarm your car.”
Jason Elliott, a 51-year-old unemployed machinist, said he’s heard of several heat-related deaths involving meth during his three years on the streets in Phoenix.
“It’s pretty typical,” said Elliot, noting that stimulants enable people to stay awake and alert to prevent being robbed in shelters or outdoors. “What else can you do? You have stuff; you go to sleep, you wake up and your stuff is gone.”
Dr. Nick Staab, assistant medical director of the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, said brochures were printed this summer and distributed in cooling centers to spread the word about the risk of using stimulants and certain prescription medicines in extreme heat.
But it’s unclear how many are being reached. People who use drugs may not be welcomed at some cooling centers. A better solution, according to Stacey Cope, capacity building and education director for the harm reduction nonprofit Sonoran Prevention Works, is to lower barriers to entry so that people most at risk “are not expected to be absent from drugs, or they’re not expected to leave during the hottest part of the day.”
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Publish date : 2024-10-12 20:27:00
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