8 June 8 - 14, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents in smoke shops. As long as the pre-harvest hemp tests below 0.3% total THC, it’s legal, regardless of the THCa content post-har- vest, Kight says. This is why the THCa levels are allowed to be so high, he says. Larew acknowledges that his THCa venture could be short-lived. The laws could always change. There have been some state and federal attempts, for exam- ple, to institute a total THC cap on finished hemp products. This would keep Larew from making THCa flower under his and Kight’s interpretation of the law. But he says he still will be able to make his delta-9 edibles, which he is the most passionate about because he thinks smoking is bad for people’s health. His company has been at this for three years now, but Wyatt Purp has yet to be- come a household name. “I feel like all of this should be like almost Nobel Peace Prize-winning technologies and instead we get copied by synthetics constantly and just told to go over here,” Larew said. “I’ve existed for three years and nobody knows we exist. It’s because you have to have mil- lions and millions of dollars to start and do marketing and advertising and get all of this stuff going in order to actually get the word out. “You can cure cancer. No one will know about it because the system’s designed that way. They don’t want change. They want to keep it the way it is and this is my way of try- ing to just give back before I die. … This is my second life. I’m trying to live it for people, not necessarily myself. I’m not wealthy beyond my wildest dreams for doing this. I barely get by and run a small business, dude. It’s not the way people think it works. It’s just not.” ▼ DRUGS DRUG MAPS OVERDOSE MAPPING IS COMING TO DALLAS TO HELP FIGHT FENTANYL, OPIOID ABUSE. BY KELLY DEARMORE B eginning in September, health pro- fessionals in Texas who treat drug overdoses will be required to report relevant overdose data to law enforcement. With the signing of Senate Bill 1319 into law by Gov. Greg Abbott, overdose mapping will be a widespread effort instead of a selective measure. “By making the disclosure required by law, SB 1319 allows providers to make a limited disclosure of the overdose information and remain in compliance with privacy laws,” said a statement in support of the new law, re- leased by Dallas City Council members Paula Blackmon and Adam Bazaldua. “SB 1319 strikes a careful and necessary balance be- tween privacy and the public health and safety needs of reporting overdose informa- tion. It also allows law enforcement agencies to map these overdoses for public safety pur- poses and allows municipalities to work with a private overdose mapping entity.” Overdose mapping in Dallas will start less than a year into the city’s newly de- signed opioid response program. The pro- gram consists of Dallas Fire-Rescue personnel administering Narcan for possible overdoses and conducting follow-up visits to residents who experienced an overdose requiring transport to a hospital or a 911 call. When the Observer spoke to DFR Battalion Chief Scott Clumpner in December, he said the opioid problem had been on a clear rise in Dallas for years. He said the department ad- ministered 800 doses of Narcan in 2020, 1,200 doses in 2021, and more than 1,900 in 2022. The increased availability of fentanyl, a power- ful synthetic opioid, has fueled the rising num- ber of overdoses. Cheaply made fentanyl is often included in illegally pressed pills de- signed to look like Percocet or OxyContin pills. Jeff Beeson, deputy director for High In- tensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program (HIDTA), which coordinates responses to regional drug threats with local, state and federal agencies, said in an email to the Ob- server that overdose mapping is “a three- pronged strategy that includes a partnership between our public health and safety part- ners to provide harm reduction, supply re- duction, and demand reduction strategies in order to save lives.” According to the Centers for Disease Con- trol and Prevention, drug overdoses and poi- sonings are the leading cause of death for people between the ages of 18 and 45. Beeson elaborated on the “three-pronged strategy” that the Overdose Detection Mapping Appli- cation Program (ODMAP) employs in help- ing to combat the rise in opioid overdoses. “The potency and lethality of the drugs we are seeing in our communities has never been greater and in order to respond effec- tively, we need real time information to de- ploy those resources,” Beeson wrote. “ODMAP provides us with that information. The ability for Fire/EMS to see trends and patterns, and more importantly overdose spike information, allows them to staff ap- propriately and respond quicker, getting overdose victims the medical attention they need. We are also in a better position to send harm reduction services into the commu- nity and better educate families and people who use drugs. From a demand reduction standpoint, we can better educate commu- nity members at pivotal times about treat- ment and support options.” Even with the increase in opioid-related headlines, overdoses, arrests and deaths, many municipalities have yet to put over- dose mapping into action. Executive direc- tor for the Texoma HIDTA program, Lance Sumpter, says there were some legitimate obstacles standing in the way of ODMAP adoption in the minds of some. “ODMAP’s usage began in the northeast area of the country, where the opioid epi- demic first manifested itself,” he said in an email to the Observer. “The utilization of the system grew with the spread of the epi- demic. Prior to the governor signing SB 1319, advocacy for the program was done by our limited staff. The challenges included pro- motion of the program, understanding the tool’s value, and the misperception of viola- tion of Health Insurance Portability and Ac- countability Act (HIPAA) related to the privacy of health information. Texas Gover- nor Greg Abbott signed SB 1319 into law, eliminating the concern organizations may have had with HIPAA.” Sumpter said that the names and ad- dresses of overdose patients who are treated will not be provided to law enforcement. “This process removes the ability to track back to a specific address for the incident, but is not so general as to negate the strate- gic effect of the data source,” he said. Although overdoses from all drugs are tracked in this program, ODMAP is the latest, major statewide move to address opioid and fentanyl overdoses. In April, Abbott an- nounced a $10 million “One Pill Kills” cam- paign to create awareness and to arm counties with necessary resources, including Narcan. A number of bills that aimed to reduce the impact of fentanyl found their way to the House floor during the recent Texas Legislature. House Bill 6, which would al- low people who provide a fatal dose of fentanyl to someone to be charged with murder, is on the governor’s desk, await- ing his signature. But the bills that would legalize fentanyl testing strips failed to pass this session. ▼ CRIME A PERMANENT MEMORIAL WEEKS AFTER THE MASS SHOOTING, ALLEN PREMIUM OUTLETS REOPENS. BY KELLY DEARMORE A llen Premium Outlets, where eight people were killed and several more injured when a shooter opened fire in the parking lot on May 6, reopened on May 31. According to a statement on the mall’s website, the shopping center will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Satur- day, and from noon to 6 p.m. on Sundays. Stores that reopened on the 31st were closed for 25 days. “As we reopen, we do so with deep grati- tude for the compassion and goodwill of so many,” the statement reads. “To the Allen Po- lice Department, the APO security profession- als, other first responders, our retailers and employees, and all who helped, thank you.” Each retailer will be able to reopen when it best suits them and to set their own hours. When asked if any stores would remain closed moving forward, a member of the mall’s security department told us by phone that as far as she was aware, most stores on the property should be open on May 31. Fox 4’s Dan Godwin tweeted on that Wednesday morning that some stores would not reopen until Thursday, June 1. The website also noted that “plans for a permanent memorial have begun.” The Dallas Morning News recently re- ported that Simon Property Group, the out- let mall’s owner, will have a new “comprehensive security and emergency management plan” that includes an Allen police substation. Christian LaCour, one of the eight people who died on May 6, was a security guard for the mall. Multiple reports that emerged im- mediately following the shooting detailed the 20-year-old’s efforts to protect others during the attack. In a news conference on May 9, Allen police Chief Brian Harvey said, “We must also acknowledge the bravery of Allied Se- curity Guard Christian LaCour, who evac- uated one individual to safety and was shot while courageously remaining to help others.” An Allen police officer, who had reported to the mall on an unrelated call, shot and killed the gunman, 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia, minutes after the shooting began. ▼ LEGISLATURE HOUSE PARTY 5 BUCKWILD MOMENTS FROM NORTH TEXAS LAWMAKERS THIS SESSION. BY SIMONE CARTER T he Texas Legislature meets in regu- lar session only once every two years, so when lawmakers descend on Austin, they pack a whole lot into a rela- tively short amount of time. They debate, they work late and some allegedly get a lit- tle sauced. It’s the perfect combo for controversy. During the 88th session, which ended on May 29, the Republican-led Legislature passed bans on gender-affirming care for minors, supposed “sexually explicit mate- rial” on school shelves and — somewhat sur- prisingly— sales taxes on diapers and menstrual products. Lawmakers advanced hard-right causes in the broader national culture wars, including cracking U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Illegally produced pills laced with fentanyl are responsible for many overdoses in North Texas. Unfair Park from p6 >> p10