MONTICELLO — As the opioid epidemic continues to hit Sullivan County, emergency responders are facing a new and bigger threat: fentanyl. The narcotic drug is often mixed with heroin and is a high-risk for addiction and dependence.

It can also cause respiratory distress and death when taken in high doses or combined with other substances, especially alcohol. The drug can be in powder form, and therefore can be breathed in through the air.

Sullivan County Probation Department Director Barbara Martin said on Thursday during the legislature Public Safety Committee that fentanyl is an increasingly dangerous drug.

“Myself and several staff members went to a fentanyl training in Orange County last week, and the information that is out there is extraordinarily scary, about how truly dangerous it is to anybody who comes in contact [with it],” Martin said.

She said instructors at the training conference told them that drug dealers are throwing the drug in the air to harm police officers.

“They've actually had incidents where offenders have taken the fentanyl and thrown it at police, and when it gets in the air and you breath it into your lungs it is an instantaneous very serious medical situation,” she said.

Sullivan County Coroner Albee Bockman echoed what Martin was saying.

“Every time we find some way to answer the fentanyl issue the drug dealers come up with another laboratory experiment to make it even stronger and worse,” Bockman said. “Right now the newest fentanyl is called Acetylfentanyl; it's 50 times stronger than regular fentanyl. Narcan isn't even touching it.”

Martin said it was recommended to the Probation Department to get rid of latex gloves and use nitrile gloves, which are made out of a synthetic rubber and are medical grade.

She also said that Probation Department employees should use caution when doing a home visit and keep an eye out for any white, powdery substance. If they see it, they should immediately leave and call for assistance.

“Once they get it in the air you only have a few minutes to give yourself Narcan, and it's not just one or two doses that will do it, you may need three or four doses,” Martin said.

Bockman said in his report to the legislators that they have seen “very little change” in the opioid crisis. He said in September there were nine deaths overall and three of them were from drug overdoses.

This represents 33 percent of deaths, which he says is on par with the monthly average of 15 to 30 percent, or two to four per month.

“We see very little change,” Bockman said. “No matter how much money is being trickled down from the government, and programs here, there's no change. Do we have hope? Absolutely. But every month we talk about it, and every month we hear about programs that are coming down.”

Bockman mentioned the Marchman Law, which is a law in Florida that provides a means of involuntary and voluntary assessment and stabilization and treatment of a person abusing alcohol or drugs.

The law, Bockman said, says that if someone is given Narcan they are mandated to go to the hospital. And since they are already at the hospital they can enter drug treatment programs.

He said a proposed law is being reviewed by the county, but it would need to be enacted by the state.