A different kind of victim: Payout for fentanyl runs tempting for young adults
COCHISE COUNTY, Ariz. (WKRC) - The fentanyl epidemic is leading to a powerful pull for young people who assist in transporting drugs across the border.
Local 12’s medical reporter Liz Bonis just returned from the Arizona-Mexico border and shares why it's claiming a whole new set of victims.
Scenes show the tragedy of the fentanyl crisis is not just impacting those taking the drug—it’s impacting those attempting to deliver them.
Bonis found out just how as she was inside Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels’ police car.
On a chase of a vehicle suspected of both human and drug trafficking, the chase topped speeds of more than 100 miles an hour.
“This is our criminal interdiction team, this is what we are seeing daily,” said Dannels.
The car flips over and Dannels’ team, along with Ohio’s Butler County Sheriff, hop out with guns drawn.
“They are smuggling for profits and we'll see what else is in the car,” Dannels said.
Ambulances are called and loaded with several people who needed immediate medical attention.
It's clear these runs are dangerous to those who choose to make them and those who try to stop them.
“Without them, the criminal element would take over, and we would not be safe,” said Ohio House Representative Cindy Abrams.
Two young women from the car are taken to the side of the road who are shaken but not visibly hurt.
“This is sadly what’s going on when you don’t secure the border,” Dannels said.
Bonis sat down to talk to one of them. She says her name is Myra.
When her cell phone rings, she asks Bonis to answer it and tell her mom she's okay.
Police say Myra is known to them and that this was part of her way of life.
Looking on while Bonis talks to her, however, is the Ohio father of Lizzie, who accompanied Bonis on this trip to the Arizona border.
“There’s possibly three people that could be dead,” said father Mark Murphy.
Lizzie died of fentanyl poisoning, but Mark says he is bewildered by what people will do for drugs.
“I can’t believe what they would risk for drugs,” Mark said.
Myra is the age Lizzie would be right now had she lived: just 23.
“I can’t believe it, it’s shocking,” Mark said.
In the scene of all this chaos, Mark says it's hard not to think that while Lizzie was one victim of the drug cartels, Myra is just another.
The Cochise County Sheriff's Office says if these young people had made it to their destination, a $30,000 payout was waiting for them, a powerful pull for young people to resist.