Special Report: Opioid Epidemic Looms Over Valley Communitie

opioid epidemic--gripping the nation... now--making it's way into the valley. a valley organization , the valley aids council, is working with other agencies to save lives. channel 5's trason bragg...spoke to the director of education to learn-- what's being done to save lives. the center for disease control tells us the number of deaths from opioids in the state of texas increased by 330 from the years 2014 to 2016. marking 2,831 opioid deaths in 2016. that number is expected to continue to grow. literally i have false teeth. iv'e had them since i was 17 years old because i knew i could get vicodin, and i didn't care. pull them, pull them, it hurts. i would find some reason to get my teeth pulled so i could get vicodin." that's mary. she's not shy about calling herself an addict. she tells us her journey with opioid addiction began at a very young age after a horrific incident.

"well when i was eight years old i got shot, and i was on pain killers all my life. pain killers, pain killers, pain killers." mary tells us by the age of 17 she was taking 10 vicodin at a time. trips to the hospital for overdoses and medication poisoning were common. mary says left chicago and moved to brownsville in the year 2000. within two weeks she was introduced to a drug known on the street as "mexican mocos" aka black tar heroin.

"immediately, immediately, no pill was going to work again. i haven't popped pills since." she explains black tar heroin became more than just her new drug of choice. it became her world. chasing that 10 dollar high was her only concern. she says in less than a month everything changed.

"and then i hit rock bottom quick, like quick fast and in a hurry, overnight it seemed like i was in the streets hustling doing things i never thought i would do. a lot of it was mainly prostitution, and that's really your morals. you see them go out the window real quick." mary bares the scars of her addiction. collapsed veins and needle marks run her entire body. she isn't alone in this uphill battle with opioid addiction. she explains the numbers of new opioid addicts are growing in the valley. she's seen the growth with her own eyes. she says often their middle class teenagers sneaking into their parent's medication. she begs parents to pay closer attention.

"you can go in and get a dollar into the dollar store and get pills that look like vicodin, take your vicodin and drop the dollar pills in there and you and i are not going to sit there and look, is this a vicodin 10 over 325 or. i'm just saying you not going to look, if they look like them. and it aint nothing but a dollar aspirin." she's seen many of those new users, and longtime friends overdose which can lead death. oscar lopez is the director of education at the valley aids council. he says it's clear, the heroin and opioid epidemic is on the rise in our community.

"in the state of texas it is the number one killer of anyone 50 years of age or younger, so heroin is very prevalent." lopez explains common opioids include prescription painkillers such as vicodin, morphine, and fentanyl among others.

"what we have seen is, an increase in the number of people who have access to painkillers. we've seen those painkillers now being sold on the streets. and when the painkillers runout people do turn to heroin." lopez explains 80 percent of opioid users will relapse within a year after becoming sober. he says to combat the deaths caused by this epidemic vac has begun providing free narcan kits. narcan is a medication that can prevent death during an overdose.

"this basically will counter the affects of the opioid. it goes into the nasal cavity and immediately gets absorbed by the body and will help wake up somebody who is over dosing." lopez tells us a narcan kit cost any 175 to 1000 dollars for an injection. vac is providing them to anyone who is at risk, or knows someone who is at risk of an opioid overdose. to prevent your family from being affected by this epidemic, lopez has a suggestion.

"if as parents and grandparents we locked up our pain medication, we would great reduce the number of teens that are experimenting with pain killers that are opioids." mary says she's picked up her narcan kit. she's even passing out kits to fellow users in hopes she can save lives. as for her battle with addiction.

"to me i feel like this is my last chance. i'm not there yet, all the way because i used three days ago but i'm one day at a time. that's all i can do is one day at a time." now after an 18 year battle with black tar heroin, the 56 year older says she's reentered a methadone treatment facility to help end her opioid drug use. lopez tells us vac has partnered with both the san benito and port isabel police departments in the battle against this opioid epidemic. vac has provided narcan kits and training to their officers. the port isabel police department tells us a month after receiving the narcan kits officers were able to save the life a man they encountered in the middle of an overdose. lopez says vac is willing to partner with any police department here in the valley. just contact him at vac. we'lll have that information for you on our website krgv.com -- in the studio, trason bragg channel 5 news at 10 people in