‘Gray death’ creeping into border city

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Cocaine was everywhere when Mindy Portillo hit the club scene in El Paso 20 years ago.

“It was straightforward (to get). I would meet people, and it would just happen – just like that,” the former drug user said.

Two decades later, Mindy Portillo, once a drug user in the El Paso club scene, has transformed into a rehab coach at Aliviane Substance Use Treatment and Support Center. She is now on the front lines of the fight against the fentanyl epidemic.

Her clients, real people with real lives, are coming across fentanyl in pills they thought were brand-name painkillers or mixed in with their heroin or its residue-tainting marijuana pressed by cartels on the same tables they use chemicals to produce fentanyl.

Portillo and others trying to save the lives of people with an addiction are particularly worried about the latest iteration of fentanyl peddled in El Paso. It is a grayish-looking paste, powder, or rock called “concrete,” a substance of grave danger.

“Concrete is a new drug that’s been on the streets of El Paso for the past two years. It’s a lethal combination of fentanyl, carfentanyl, and heroin. It’s deadly. It just takes a little bit, as with fentanyl. I honestly don’t see the point in it, but this is what everybody is taking on the streets now.”

Border Report urgently reached out to the Drug Enforcement Administration and the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office for comment on the presence of the drug that local counselors say they started hearing about one to two years ago. A response was not immediately received, highlighting the need for immediate action and public awareness.

In a March 2023 report, the National Institutes of Health issued an advisory on a drug cocktail they referred to as the “gray death,” Which bears striking similarities to El Paso’s “concrete.” Both are mixtures of fentanyl, carfentanyl, and heroin – plus the designer drug U-47700.

According to the NIH, The adverse effects of ‘concrete’ can range from mild to severe due to its unpredictable nature. Confusion, difficulty moving, tiredness, tremors, balance loss, seizures, mental fog, vomiting, nausea, spasms, and hyperventilation are some of the major side effects of ‘concrete ‘.

El Paso County Medical Examiner’s drug fatality reports did not record any deaths from “concrete” up to 2022. The ME’s annual report for that year reported 80 drug overdose fatalities involving fentanyl – by itself or in combination with other drugs.

“We encourage people to talk to their children, to reach out to their loved ones because fentanyl is out there,” said Guillermo Valenzuela, Aliviane’s chief corporate officer. If you’re buying drugs from street vendors, you will probably encounter fentanyl. These are unintentional overdoses. Nobody goes out and plans on overdosing.”

Aliviane, a 50-year history in El Paso

When Aliviane opened in El Paso in 1970, its outreach, with the active participation of the community, focused on heroin users in El Segundo Barrio of South El Paso.

Valenzuela emphasized, “The issue of heroin use persists, and now it’s being compounded by drugs like fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, which continue to have a grave effect on communities like ours.”

Texas state officials say 1.6 million residents reported a substance abuse disorder in 2023. The state has seen a surge of opioid-related overdoses — primarily fentanyl overdoses.

Valenzuela estimates that only 10 percent of people seek help, and an even smaller percentage gets it.

He and others hope that will improve locally with Tuesday’s grand opening of Aliviane’s new residential treatment center in East El Paso.
“With this new facility, Aliviane is committed to meeting the increasing demand for effective substance abuse treatment in El Paso,” said Ivonne Tapia, CEO of Aliviane.

The facility has 52 beds and is already at capacity. It welcomes men and women over 18, including women with families, for up to three months.
Rehab coach Portillo said peer support is a big part of the journey out of drug addiction.

“I don’t come to you as a medical (professional); I am coming to you as a person in recovery. I know what you’re going through; I’ve been in your shoes,” Portillo said. “I’m just trying to motivate and guide you into sobriety. That’s basically what peer support does.”

For information on rehab support, visit Aliviane.org or call 915-782-4000.

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