By Bruce Karnick

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A lot has been said recently about the dangers of drug overdoses, especially Fentanyl. Fentanyl is an extremely potent opioid that can quickly kill a person by disrupting and stopping their breathing. Hastings is not immune to fentanyl overdoses, and we have lost not one, but three teens to fentanyl poisoning in the last two years.

“But my kid would never…” You need to stop thinking that. Devin Norring thought he was taking a Percocet he purchased from a dealer via Snapchat. It turned out; the pill he took was made to look like Percocet, but it was 100% fentanyl. Enough to kill several adults. Devin did not have a drug addiction, he had a tooth pain. His dentist appointment to get the issue solved was delayed due to the COVID shutdown, so he became desperate to find relief.

Devin did not have a drug problem, he had a tooth problem, a tooth problem that led him to illegally buy a prescription drug. The dealer, knowingly or not, sold him a pill that was pure Fentanyl. Someone, somewhere, knew exactly what they were doing, making a pill look identical to a prescription drug but instead the contents were completely different and deadly.

This story has been told many times recently because of the stigma attached to drug overdoses. Almost as if people seem to think, ‘well, druggie made a choice and druggie got what they deserved.’ In many cases with Fentanyl, yes, it is still technically an overdose, but if someone takes a pill thinking they are taking Percocet and instead, it’s Fentanyl, that person did not choose to take Fentanyl and therefore they were poisoned.

It’s also been told numerous times to wake people up, to make people ask questions, to make people talk, and to get people informed. We have so many great teens in this town, teens that would never knowingly ingest a drug like Fentanyl. Teens that might be overly sore from a sports practice so they think the best thing they can do is take a stronger pain killer than aspirin. Now, they sneak an order to the local dealer on Snapchat for a Percocet or Oxycodone and next thing you know, we have another teen death on our hands because they were poisoned with Fentanyl.

So yes, your kid might. This very thing is what the International Overdose Awareness Day presentation hopes to stop. The presentation took place on the upper level of the parking ramp across from the Confluence on August 30. The presentation was about an hour long and attended by nearly 200 people. Mari Melick of the Hastings United Way emcee’d the presentation with assistance from Jane Neumiller-Bustad.

Many of our governmental representatives were on hand; US Representative Angie Craig, Congressional candidate Tyler Kistner, MN Senator Karla Bigham, MN Representative Tony Jurgens, Mayor Mary Fasbender, and many City Council members. Also in attendance, Police Chief Bryan Schaffer and a number of officers, along with Captain Bryan Hermerding of the Dakota County Drug Task Force.

Mayor Fasbender was the first guest to speak, as part of her time on the mic, she made an official proclamation on the day. August 31st is officially International Overdose Awareness Day in Hastings. The proclamation was presented to Devin Norring’s mother Bridgette. Bridgette was chosen as the recipient because of her tireless effort to bring awareness to this problem here in Hastings. The Norring Family is not the only one to suffer a loss from Fentanyl Poisoning. Two other teens have died in the last two years as well, Natalia Arreguin and Tyler Kavitz.

Norring spoke next about what it means for the community to be aware of the threat of Fentanyl, how overdoses affect families and communities, how kids are getting illegal drugs through apps like Snapchat and how to recognize an overdose. She made sure to continually include the other families affect by overdoses because she is well aware of how this affects everyone. She is not doing this just for Devin, she is doing it to save kids like him, Talia and Tyler.

Chief Schaffer spoke about what Hastings is seeing on this front and what they are doing to combat drugs in general. He spoke on statistics of how Fentanyl use has gone up 59% in 2017 alone. That every officer carries a Narcan vapor dispenser with them while on duty and that they have used Narcan over 30 times since they started carrying them around five years ago.

Chief Schaffer made a very powerful statement during his speech. “I have promised Brigitte and others that we will continue to work tirelessly to identify and bring justice to those who are selling these deadly drugs in our community. A lot of people have given us information. And I’m going to continue to encourage folks to share information as you heard, to some of the kids here, you know who these individuals are, and you have seen some of the communications. We ask that you come forward and help us take care of and bringing these folks to justice. We know who you are, we will get you and we will hold you accountable. And that is the promise you have from the Hastings police department.”

Chief Schaffer also discussed that Minnesota has a good Samaritan law. “That means that if you call 911 and you are provided immunity from arrest, or charges or prosecution for drug possession, possession or paraphernalia when individuals are experiencing or witnessing overdose in some emergency services, so if you are one of those people that are witnessing an overdose as was told by Bridgette and what happened to Devin, you are in most cases, under the Good Samaritan law you will not be prosecuted and charged This is about saving lives. Folks, this isn’t about going to jail. We have an anonymous tip line use our tip 411 system to make a confidential report. Text the word Hastings and your tip to 847411. This is not monitored 24 hours but is great to pass information on to us, but again, if it’s an emergency, please call 911.”

After Chief Schaffer, Captain Hermerding from Dakota County spoke. He reiterated a lot of what Chief Schaffer said and in fact, joked about going second because he would have to talk less.

Captain Hermerdinger implored families to have the difficult discussions. “Honestly I’m tired of going to these calls and seeing this kind of thing. So, if you can talk to your kids be open about it. We’re seeing a lot of stuff on Snapchat like Bridgette said and Signal and WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger. I feel like every search warrant we’re doing we’re doing a search warrant on somebody’s phone on some app. And that’s difficult to do. So, watch what they’re talking about with their friends watch who they’re talking to. We’re seeing a lot of fake pills coming up from down south.”

“From the Dakota County Drug Task Force aspect, we stand with you we will do our darndest every day to make sure that we bring those responsible for these deaths, to justice. We have 13 agents that work tirelessly to make sure that the people that are selling these drugs are brought to justice and put in jail and prison. And we’re not going to stop. Please call us. If you have tips on people, anything, see something, say something, we hear that a lot. But just make sure that if you see something or if your kids involved or you think your kids involved, give us a call, my guys and gals will not turn you away. We’re gonna ask lots of questions though,” added Captain Hermerdinger.

Representative Craig spoke on continuing to fight for further support in Washington to help law enforcement across the US first the drug problem facing America. Her priority for being present at the event was as a mother of four and she explained how her oldest son, who was adopted, lost his birth mother to an opioid overdose, so she knows firsthand how these things affect everyone.

Representative Jergens put things into perspective a bit differently using the cooler of water as an example. “What if I told you that one of those bottles had poison, the rest are okay, but one has poison and if you drink it, you’ll die. Would you still go over there and grab a bottle of water? Of course not. That’s what the young people are dealing with, with fentanyl. I will do what I can at the state level. There’s nothing that any one person can do. It’s going to take all of us working together. And it’s going to take all of you, brothers, sisters, cousins, other family members, friends, that know the loss to help spread the word. Contact the sheriff or chief Schaffer and other police officers, talk to your parents, talk to your schools. It’s going to take all of us.”

Tyler Kistner spoke about being involved, reiterating what had already been said. This is a nationwide issue, and it will take everyone to solve, including stopping the drugs from crossing our borders.

Mellick closed the night with reminding people, 93,000 Americans died last year to Fentanyl poisoning, including Devin Norring. “Devin isn’t a number. Devin was a vibrant 19-year-old he ordered the Hastings football jersey. In a week or so. All the Raiders are going to be piling over there on Todd field. I used to sit in the stands and watch our sons. He was not a number. He graduated from Hastings High School. He matters and so do all the others. And I firmly believe that, you know, Hastings is a great community, good community. It could be great but we can wrap our arms around this, we have to work together and make it a priority. So, in closing, thank you to all of the speakers that came this evening.”

With that, the Confluence lit the cupolas purple and the front of City Hall was lit purple, the color for IOAD, friends and family hugged each other and people went their separate ways. So now what?

Now, we fight to save our kids and our community. Now, if we see something we say something. Now, we have those tough conversations with all of our kids.

ALL of our kids.

Bridgette Norring, mother of Devin Norring who lost his life to Fentanyl poisoning, listens to Mayor Mary Fasbender read the proclamation declaring August 31 International Overdose Awareness Day in Hastings. Photo by Bruce Karnick.

Pictured above, Hastings Police Chief Bryan Schaffer said, “We know who you are, we will get you and we will hold you accountable. And that is the promise you have from the Hastings Police Department.” Photo by Bruce Karnick