ST. PAUL — Four years ago, JR Graham, 55, had a job he loved in security at Ecolab in St. Paul. Then, he relapsed.

“My father passed away and then that led me back into being involved in drugs,” he said. “I gave up on myself.”

It’s been more than 30 years since Graham first started using drugs.

And as he continues to work toward recovery, he said the drugs of today are unlike anything he’s come across before.

“It is a 50-50 chance you're gonna live or die getting high. Back then, it was nothing like this. Drugs were drugs. There was no synthetic (opioid),” he said. “It's a death trap.”

Fentanyl has spread to every corner of the country in recent years and has caused overdose deaths to surge everywhere it’s gone. For years, young, white and often rural people have been the public face

See Full Page