Somali elders in the Twin Cities are sounding the alarm over a rise in fentanyl use and related overdose deaths that they say is “devastating the community.”

Use of the deadly opioid has grown most rapidly among young adults, roughly between the ages of 17 and 35 years old, according to Hassanen Mohamed, the executive director of the Minnesota Somali Community Center.

Mohamed interpreted as Minneapolis mother Mariam “Zahra” Said shared the story of losing her son to a fentanyl overdose.

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“The reason why I’m sitting here is not only for my son; it’s for all sons and all children of Minnesota,” Mohamed translated for Said.

Said’s son, Samatar Ali, should’ve been 26 years old this month. When he was 21, Said said she noticed drug use infiltrating his friend group, so she sent him abroad to live with family in Qatar for a few months.

“Got him a ticket, sent him outside the country so that he could visualize the world apart from where he was born. He was born here, so he can see that there’s opportunities here, that he can do something rather than, you know, being around people who use drugs,” Said said through Mohamed.

Ali arrived back home “ready to get to work,” she shared.

“That day when he came home, he applied for security job near the airport. … [He said], ‘Here’s the offer letter that I received. I’m picking up the uniform tonight. I’m starting the job tomorrow.’ And that same night is when he passed away,” Said said through Mohamed.

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There isn’t a family in our community left untouched by the fentanyl crisis, the pair said confidently. Said noted that she works nights “and every night when I come from work, I usually see everybody out there that uses,” she said, also expressing frustration over what she described as a lack of reaction from public officials.

“I don’t even see them,” Mohamed translated. “And if they really cared, they would have been visually here.”

Mohamed noted he’s run into several teenagers through his work who have told him, “Nine out of 10 of my friends are users.”

Again translating for Said, Mohamed said, “She says, you know, I feel some type of comfort that might I know where my son is. By being dead, he’s buried, right? But the other kids who are using drugs that I know of and sleeping outside, they’re neither dead or alive; they are right in the middle of that.”

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Minnesotans of color have died at disproportionately high rates throughout the opioid epidemic. And as of 2021 in Minneapolis, the number of Black residents who have died of opioid-related overdoses surpassed the number of white resident deaths, according to a Hennepin County dashboard.

Data specific to the city’s Somali community was tough to come by and likely underreported. Islam strictly forbids drug use, and as Mohamed explained, that stigma has left people to suffer from addiction alone, and it’s kept families from reporting deaths as overdoses.

Said decided to go through with her son’s autopsy. The immediate cause of death was ruled “acute fentanyl toxicity.”

“I was not going to suffer with the unknown cause for my son’s death. I wanted to know what killed my son,” Mohamed translated for Said.

The mother of three young men, including her late son Ali, encouraged all mothers to be aware of their kids’ whereabouts and to talk to them openly and with compassion when it comes to drug use.

“My message to all mothers is do not hide this issue,” she continued, speaking through Mohamed. “Be supportive. Find ways of addressing, you know, their drug use. Take them to the hospital, figure out ways of how to treat them, be close to them. Do not shun them or shut them off.”