The Dawson County Sheriff’s Department filed a custodial death report (CDR) regarding Jose Saul Cruz Jr. on November 11, 2022. Mr. Cruz died in the Dawson County Jail in Lamesa, Texas, less than 21 hours after his 2:45 AM arrival on November 5, 2022. At the time of booking, he appeared to be very anxious and fidgety. He was placed in a detox cell and during an inmate check at 11:06 PM, he was seen unresponsive and not breathing in the cell. A Dawson County judge went to the jail and pronounced Mr. Cruz deceased at 11:12 PM.

Fentanyl is a Growing Threat but Narcan Can Reverse its Effects

Combatting opioid overdoses has been a struggle for a number of years now, but a development involving fentanyl has seriously worsened the situation. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid, and it can be lethal in doses no larger than the size of a few grains of salt. Drug cartels are capitalizing on the fact that fentanyl is more powerful than any other opioid plus it is much cheaper to produce.

A frightening aspect of fentanyl is that it is replacing other drugs without the knowledge of illegal users. For instance, fentanyl is being used in copycat Vicodin tablets, unbeknownst to users. These illicit drugs have even been fooling narcotics experts, who say that the fake versions are too similar to the real thing to distinguish between them. As a result of this increasingly new type of event, more fentanyl poisoning deaths are occurring.

Sadly, even as the demand for Narcan is higher because of fentanyl, the “More Narcan Please” program in Texas ran out of funds in January. Larger jails are better able to fund supplies of lifesaving Narcan, but smaller counties frequently face serious budgeting issues.

See Part 1 and this continuing series.

Helping Texas inmates who have been incarcerated in local jails in the state is the purpose of this website. Implicating organizations or people in acts of wrongdoing is never intended on this site.

–Guest Contributor