CITY OF GRANTS, N.M.- The City of Grants Police Department has been actively working to take down narcotics dealers and abusers. The Street Crimes Unit from GPD has been working to lockup criminals from across the city, and on June 28 managed to arrest an alleged drug trafficker. A separate arrest on June 24 reiterated the department’s commitment to safe streets and saw another alleged drug trafficker taken down by the department.
June 28
Just after 3 pm on June 28 the GPD Street Crimes Unit moved in on a potential crime scene at the Sands Motel, successfully apprehending Leroy Gallegos, a 40-year-old felon, without incident.
Gallegos was charged with Distribution of Fentanyl, Distribution of Suboxone, Possession of Fentanyl, Possession of Suboxone, Possession of a Firearm or Destructive Device by a Felon, Aggravated Assault of a Household Member, and several traffic violations.
June 24
Just before noon on June 24, GPD officers arrested Crystal Gallegos, a 35-year-old who ran from officers until her dirt bike broke down on Santa Fe Avenue near the liquor store Handy Andy. Officers located the broken-down bike and found Gallegos hiding by a tree near the liquor store.
C. Gallegos was already on Adult Probation and Parole after accepting a plea deal in another case, according to GPD. She was charged with Distribution of Suboxone, Possession of Suboxone, and Possession of Fentanyl.
Fentanyl, a drug that kills
“We know what it does, we understand how it effects the brain, just a grain of fentanyl can kill you,” said GPD Lieutenant Jeff Marez.
According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, Fentanyl is a drug 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine and is typically used to treat severe pain after surgeries and to help patients at the end of their life, like patients with cancer. Lt. Marez said that the drug is used in small amounts to help ween addicts off heroin.
Use of Fentanyl, and its stronger sister Carfentanil, is on the rise. The drug is being laced into other drugs, like heroin, cocaine, opioid pills, and turning unwitting users into addicts, according to the VA. “They look just like prescription opioid pills and can cause death within seconds,” according to information from the VA’s Academic Detailing Service.
Fentanyl’s stronger sister, Carfentanil, is 10,000 times more potent than Morphine and 100 times more potent than Fentanyl, with only two milligrams necessary to knock out an average sized adult elephant.
“This is why we carry around Narcan,” Lt. Marez said, “[These are] incredibly dangerous drugs.” Narcan is a medicine that can be sprayed into a person’s nose or injected into their veins to reverse an overdose, this is a life-saving treatment to keep people on drugs from dying despite a lethal amount of drugs in their system, according to the VA.
The Cibola Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition recommends that all people with opioid prescriptions lock up their drugs and make sure they cannot be easily accessed.
The county’s coalition has resources available for understanding addictions, understanding why certain drugs are so dangerous, along with other items to help citizens correctly dispose of their drugs.
Look to next week’s edition of the Cibola Citizen for more information on fentanyl and the toll its taking across the county.
The Cibola Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition can be reached at 505-240- 2621.