Tears were shed Friday at the Hawaii Island Fentanyl Task Force sign-waving rally as former addicts, victims, anti-drug supporters and members of the West Hawaii community stood in solidarity to raise awareness about drug-use prevention and addiction in all its forms.
The event was held on Valentine’s Day from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the side of Queen Kaahumanu Highway, just south of Henry Street.
According to the HIFTF, fentanyl was first reported on the Big Island in 2017, with around one overdose-related death every eight days. It was reported that one person dies about every 22 hours in statewide overdose-related deaths. The Big Island had 41 overdose-related deaths in 2023.
“It’s important for us to send messages of hope to our communities. Families continue to hurt, people continue to struggle, and children continue to observe this environment,” Dr. Lee-Ann Heely, director of the Department of Health Equity at Hawaii Island Community Health Center, told West Hawaii Today.
“The fentanyl task force is made up of committed partners where help can be provided and hope can be restored. The sign-waving rally was a way to inform the community and to expand awareness about prevention,” Heely said.
Members of the Kailua-Kona Lions Club showed their support at the rally and shared a few stories with West Hawaii Today about a personal experience or people they knew involving opiate addiction — from Vicodin, OxyContin to fentanyl. The experiences were described as the epitome of heaven and hell, an abyssal pit and the ultimate test of sheer will power.
“The Kona Club has been helping with spreading the use of Narcan (an emergency opioid overdose revival treatment) and with drug abuse,” Kona Lions Club member and former OxyContin addict Paul Cooley told West Hawaii Today as tears ran down his cheek while speaking about the dangers of addiction.
“It’s a very very big problem. To me, no one seems to really address it. We’ve been helping out with Narcan for those that are having problems. It (addiction) gets started a lot of times with injuries and stuff and carries on but you have to get a hold of it. I just hope people realize that.”
Cooley started out taking a few milligrams of Oxy a day that were first prescribed by a doctor for back pain, and by the end of his bout with opiates, he was up to 60 pills a day.
“Doctors would rather prescribe narcotics than perform surgeries,” Cooley added.
According to the HIFTF, the emergency opioid overdose treatment Narcan, also known as naloxone nasal spray, saves three people every 11 days from an opioid-related overdose.
The task force and Lions members continue to distribute Narcan for free throughout West Hawaii at pop-up stands in association with KTA Super Markets, who lend the HIFTF parking lot space for Narcan distribution events.
Narcan’s main use is to revive someone during an overdose from many prescription pain medications or street drugs such as heroin. A single pack of Narcan comes with two nasal spray cartridges and runs about $44 a box at retail price.
“If you think you are coming across somebody who has overdosed on fentanyl, you should not touch them with your bare hands because you can get the fentanyl from their skin and overdose yourself,” Lions Club member and activist Alice Caddow said.
The Lions Club became involved with the task force after members asked Mitch Tam, Lions Club International Past District governor and member, to help out with the distribution of Narcan.
As Tam helped distribute the life-saving spray, he started meeting a lot of people who have experienced loss from fentanyl overdoses, including teens.
“I’ve come to realize it is such a big problem on our island and in the state and how it has impacted our community,” Tam said. “I strongly feel people need to come together and take a stand and do our part in educating the public about the dangers of opioids and how Narcan can save lives.”
“I’ve been helping the HIFTF with assisting and coordinating the distribution of Narcan on the west side of the Big Island with Wally Lau,” Tam added.
“We are working in partnership with the HIFTF for about a month or so at KTA. The Lions Club is deeply committed to helping the community with any kind of health issues in which we could contribute to overcome,” Lions Club board member and former president Rodney McGee said.
A victim of a fentanyl overdose made an appearance at Friday’s rally: A 4-year-old dog named Buddy whose owner, Julie, died from an overdose while experiencing homelessness. Julie had been a guest at Hope Services Hawaii in Kona, a shelter where she and Buddy lived until her untimely death.
Mike Nichols, resident and dog lover, runs a ministry for orphaned animals in West Hawaii and adopted Buddy after Julie’s death. He came into contact with Julie while performing charity work with Hope Services and his ministry.
“Buddy is a fentanyl survivor. His mother was Julie, ” Nichols said. “We got to know Buddy a couple of years ago, and out of the blue Julie asked my wife ‘if anything happened to her would we take Buddy?’ She said, ‘sure we would take him.’ About three months later we got a call from Hope Services that said Julie had overdosed that night and passed.
“So, we took Buddy that week. No one else wanted him. We are passionate about dogs. We love dogs. He’s one of ours. Part of the pack,” Nichols said as he got choked up talking about Buddy.
“I think as far as the fentanyl situation that we have on our island, it’s known that almost every eight days somebody’s passing is a result of an overdose, and a majority of that is due to fentanyl,” HIFTF organizer Lau said.
“We do have an opioid crisis on the island, and that is why we are out here today to come as a community. We are community-based, and we are coming out to say ‘hey, what can we do’ to make our community aware of the issue that we have here as well as what we can do to prevent overdoses?” Lau said.
Lions Club and task force members can be found handing out free boxes of Narcan every weekend at various KTA locations. More information can be found at the Kona Lions website at e-clubhouse.org/sites/konahi.
More information about drug-use prevention and fentanyl-related overdoses can be found at www.hiftf.org.
Email Erik Gabaldon at egabaldon@westhawaiitoday.com.
