Metro Battles Drug Overdoses
💊 Drug use remains a point of concern in city · Pesticide bill bites dust · Old Tent City no more · More on tariffs · Much more!
Good afternoon, everyone.
Wonderful day out there. Enjoy it.
Onward.
During last week’s Metro Public Health & Safety Committee meeting, Sgt. Michael Hotz of Metro Nashville Police Department's Special Investigations Division revealed that Nashville saw a drastic drop in overdoses last year. “We haven't had many causes for hope in this battle against overdose, and a 31.4 percent reduction is significant and noteworthy,” he told the committee.
But there’s still a long way to go. Based on data collected between February 2022 and January 2023, Davidson County was identified as having the second-highest rate of overdoses in the country behind Baltimore, Maryland. While the decrease in 2024 is a vast improvement compared to 2023’s one percent reduction, Hotz tempered the committee by sharing that Nashville is already seeing an increase in overdoses this year.
Through community partnerships, support from Metro, and donations, the police department has been distributing overdose reversal kits across the county. They’ve also been installing OneBoxes (Opioid Naloxone Emergency boxes) thanks to the council’s approval of a $20,000 investment in the initiative last year. “I've installed, with the help of Director [of Nightlife Benton] McDonough, 83 OneBoxes in venues all across the city, and that’s a lot,” said Sgt. Hotz. “I would argue that that's probably more than any other city in the United States, although I am just speculating on that.”
OneBoxes are a kit that contains two doses of naloxone—a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses—latex gloves, a rescue breathing mask, and a video screen that displays instructions on how to administer the life-saving drug. They’ve been placed in music venues on Broadway and 2nd Avenue, Bridgestone Arena, the Nashville Sounds Stadium, and other locations.
The Night Mayor and MNPD continue to coordinate additional installations at Geodis Park, in the old and new Titans stadiums, on WeGo buses, in public transit centers, and near homeless encampments. The process is straightforward: assess the need, come to an agreement with the venue/location, and install the equipment. Sgt. Hotz has even taken on a new role as an unofficial handyman. “I have an orange Home Depot bucket and a DeWalt drill and installed almost all of the 83 that we've installed across the city so far,” he joked.
Director McDonough surprised some committee members by mentioning that OneBoxes may soon be found in elementary schools. “I’m happy to also report that we have also been in touch with Metro schools, and they do have Narcan, I believe, in the high schools,” said the director. “But they also stated that they would like to see the OneBoxes added to middle schools and elementary schools, so that's something that we're working on at the moment.”
“I'm alarmed and shocked that schools feel like they need them, especially in elementary schools,” said Councilmember Bob Nash. Sgt. Holz stated that the reasoning is related to the complicated nature of modern drug use and the prevalence of counterfeit fentanyl pills. “We've interdicted significant quantities of counterfeit fentanyl pills, and these pills are made to look like legitimate prescription pills such as OxyContin or Xanax,” he told Nash.
He went on to explain how the attitudes towards the recreational use of prescription medication led to the prevalence of accidental overdoses among young people. “If one of our teens or somebody, anybody, in our community doesn't have a built-up tolerance to opioids and they make a poor decision to ingest one of these counterfeit fentanyl pills, they have a 42 percent chance of dying,” said Sgt. Holz.
Unfortunately, while Metro has made significant strides in the strategic distribution of life-saving medications throughout Nashville, other problems threaten to stifle Music City’s progress. Not only did MNPD see a spike in overdoses last week, but the department is observing the introduction of a new, deadly drug combo.
“We are seeing increases in the amount of xylazine that's being adulterated into the fentanyl supply,” explained Sgt. Holz. Not only does the mixture cause a dual addiction, but xylazine is non-opioid, and overdoses can’t be reversed using Narcan. It also causes large, open sores that can lead to complications, including amputation and death.
The Nashville Fire Department is putting Sgt. Holz, a member of MNPD’s SWAT team, a bomb squad member, and one of the department’s Titans team members through a three-month EMT training so they can tend the wounds of individuals who refuse inpatient medical treatment. The training is being provided at no cost to Nashville taxpayers, and perhaps the silver lining in all of this is the heroism on display by those personally interfacing with our city’s drug, addiction, and overdose problems. MEGAN PODSIEDLIK
⧖⧗⧖ SHOW YOUR SUPPORT ⧗⧖⧗
If you want to support our work at The Pamphleteer, a recurring donation is the best way. We have a $10/month Grub Street tier and a $50/month Bard tier. Membership gets you access to our comments section and free access to upcoming events.
🖋️ Edited by Megan Podsiedlik.
🪲 Pesky Pest Bill Bites The Dust, Kinda The House Judiciary Committee voted to place Tennessee’s pesticide bill on next year’s calendar, effectively stopping its progression through the legislature during this year’s General Assembly. Similar legislation has cropped up across the country to shield pesticide manufacturers and sellers against certain failure-to-warn liability claims related to the labeling of a product. Representative Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood)—known for his legal chops—came forward with tough questions about the legal ramifications of the bill.
“A product is unreasonably dangerous if the manufacturer knows, or should know, of an unreasonably dangerous condition but fails to warn against it,” Bulso said when addressing Legislative Attorney for Tennessee General Assembly, Michelle Fogarty. “So would you agree that if this bill were to pass, it would actually remove from any citizen the right to bring an action against a manufacturer on the basis that the manufacturer should know of an unreasonably dangerous condition, but fail to disclose that in the label?”
“I think that that is a determination that's going to have to be made by the courts,” Fogarty replied. The bill’s delay is a major blow to the ongoing, multistate push to establish similar legislation across the country.
⛺️ Under a Tarp, Down by the River You ever been to Old Tent City on Anthes Drive down on the Cumberland? I haven’t, but if you look it up on Google Maps, you can see it there in all its glory: blue tarps, ramshackle constructions, and trash strewn across a city lot half shaded by trees. Last week, the city delivered a 60-day notice to the hundred or so “residents” ordering them to vacate the area as they prepare to clear and clean the space. Unsurprisingly, the quiet little city on the river has been host to a number of legal issues from illegal dumping to a malnourished newborn.
Over the past couple of months, Metro has approached the encampment with the same velveteen care given rare Earth treasures like the Crown Jewels. In September of last year, O’Connell delayed the demolition of some large structures on the site by ten days—which lasted nearly a month. In order to relocate the residents who live on the 20 acre estate, the city will allocate $50 million in American Rescue Plan grant money from 2022 to pay for a variety of services such as funding gap housing, permanent housing, etc. Maybe the city can dust off the $1.2 million in repurposed Covid-19 pods they bought at the start of the pandemic. DAVIS HUNT
DEVELOPMENT
- Nashville picks Ryman Hospitality to run Ascend Amphitheater (Axios)
- The Catbird Seat, The Patterson House to move to Vorhees building (NBJ)
- Edgehill Village sells for approximately $50M (Post)
- Scooter’s plans East Nashville drive-thru (Post)
- Porsche dealership eyed for downtown (Post)
On the matter of tariffs, I've been seeking positive perspectives that don't boil down to "it's hurting the stock market." Relatedly, I like this quote from French author Michelle Houellebecq in a Harper's Magazine column during Trump's first term on the matter: "Unlike free-market liberals (who are, in their way, as fanatical as communists), President Trump doesn’t consider global free trade the be-all and end-all of human progress."
The below is by Edward Luttwak, strategist and historian known for blending military theory with geopolitical insight, in Unherd.
✹ TARIFFS WILL AWAKEN THE AMERICAN DREAM
For decades, the United States provided a market that was unlimited for most exporters, enabling countries large and small to transfer their populations from marginally productive farms in overcrowded villages to low-tech industries producing garments, footwear, simple hand-tools and such like. In that first stage of one-sided market opening, poor people worldwide became less poor, while working-class Americans started to lose their jobs — and the American ruling elite in both parties remained uncritically devoted to free trade.
How did the US pay for that first tidal wave of cheap low-tech imports? Partly with earnings from American agricultural exports, as well as some irresistible consumer products such as Coca Cola and cigarettes. Increasingly, though, America paid for these products by selling Treasury bonds, eagerly bought up by exporting countries. That, in turn, drove up the dollar, and made foreign wares even more competitive.
THINGS TO DO
View our calendar for the week here and our weekly film rundown here.
📅 Visit our On The Radar list to find upcoming events around Nashville.
🎧 On Spotify: Pamphleteer's Picks, a playlist of our favorite bands in town this week.
👨🏻🌾 Check out our Nashville farmer's market guide.
TONIGHT
🎙️ An Evening with Hayley Reardon @ The Bluebird Cafe, 9p, $27.53, Info
🎸 Alyssa Flarety @ The Underdog, 6p, $10, Info
🎸 Honky Tonk Tuesday @ Eastside Bowl, 8p, $10, Info
+ two-step lessons @ 7p, The Cowpokes @ 8p
📰 Check out the full newsletter archive here.
The Pamphleteer
The Pamphleteer
The Pamphleteer
The Pamphleteer