Members of the Jamestown Metro Drug Task Force are pictured during a recent standoff in the city. The Jamestown Police Department said fentanyl seizures by members of the task force have “increased dramatically” since 2018. P-J photo by Eric Tichy

The amount of fentanyl recovered within the city of Jamestown since 2018 has “increased dramatically,” a report by the Jamestown Police Department indicates.

Between 2017 and 2018, members of the Jamestown Metro Drug Task Force seized a total of 13 grams of fentanyl — a powerful synthetic opioid described by the Chautauqua County Department of Health as being 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine. However, the seizures within the city spiked beginning in 2019, with task force members collecting 232 combined grams, followed by 292 grams in 2020 and a staggering 446 grams so far this year.

The increased use of fentanyl has resulted in dozens of drug overdoses in Jamestown this year.

“Fentanyl use has spiked so dramatically due to the drug’s potency,” Jamestown Police Chief Timothy Jackson told The Post-Journal. “Fentanyl is estimated to be up to 100 times more powerful than morphine, which induces a stronger high. It’s extremely important to get it off the street as it takes a smaller quantity of the drug to overdose when compared to other narcotics.”

Members of the Jamestown Metro Drug Task Force are finding a variety of narcotics during vehicle and property searches. According to data by the police department, officers have thus far collected 518 grams of methamphetamine this year; in 2017, 1,461 grams were seized, followed by 2,155 grams in 2018, 1,941 in 2019, and 1,789 last year.

As for cocaine, 590 grams were collected in 2017, 4,207 grams in 2018, 1,773 grams in 2019, 594 grams in 2020 and 1,165 grams so far this year. With heroin: 69 grams in 2017, 1 gram in 2018, 76 grams in 2019, 83 grams in 2020 and 4 grams this year.

It’s fentanyl, though, when combined with other narcotics that can produce a deadly result.

The county Health Department on numerous occasions has noted an increase in overdoses, some fatal, due to street drugs, especially heroin, being laced with fentanyl.

Christine Schuyler, county public health director, said in March 2020 that evidence suggested it had become “more dangerous to use drugs from the street as the amount of fentanyl in street drugs is rising and it can be found in heroin, meth, cocaine and marijuana.”

In a news release, she said, “Remember, don’t use alone, test your drugs with fentanyl test strips, and have multiple doses of Narcan available. There is help and there is hope.”

The county Health Department noted the following regarding fentanyl: it is in the drug supply; even a small amount of fentanyl can cause an overdose; fentanyl is mixed into heroin and can be added to other drugs such as pills, cocaine, and crystal meth; Naloxone can reverse the effects of fentanyl; a drug-free period will lower tolerance; and mixing drugs, medications and alcohol increases the risk of overdose.