Las Vegas recovery advocate links neighbors with help amid xylazine warning: ‘I’m a walking Rolodex’
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A man who achieved sobriety and climbed out of homelessness is using his network to help his neighbors get into treatment — and he’s doing it one car ride at a time.
Guiseppe Mandell, 42, will celebrate five years of sobriety in July. His brother died from a fentanyl overdose in San Francisco in 2021. He too was a recovery advocate and was sober for nearly a decade before fentanyl took his life.
A former high school athlete, Mandell received a back injury, and doctors soon prescribed him pain medication. He later turned to heroin to self-medicate.
At rock bottom, Mandell was homeless, not knowing if the drugs he was ingesting, possibly laced with fentanyl, would kill him. Today, some of the illicit drug supply making its way into southern Nevada is laced with xylazine — an animal tranquilizer that can lead to severe skin lesions, amputation and death.
Three people overdosed on opioids laced with xylazine last year, according to the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD).
Every day, Mandell, a recovery advocate with American Addiction Centers, works to get people into treatment.
“I’m a walking Rolodex in town,” Mandell said as he drove to his first stop of the day – a harm reduction organization. Mandell’s organization runs Desert Hope, a Las Vegas-based drug and alcohol treatment center. Mandell tries to connect those seeking treatment with Desert Hope first. If no beds are available, he turns to that Rolodex.
“If I can’t get them, I’ll get them into somewhere,” he said. “The No. 1 goal is like family and friends that need to get somebody into treatment.”
Mandell’s second stop brought him to the LGBTQIA+ Community Center of Southern Nevada. His meeting with an employee there soon turned into an intervention.
“You want to get sober today?” Mandell asked one man sleeping on a couch.
Fate would introduce Mandell to Louie, a man in his 50s, who said he started misusing drugs at 8. After several phone calls, Louie was in Mandell’s passenger seat on the way to a treatment bed Mandell found for him.
“The last time I showered was two weeks ago,” Louie said, adding the strains of homeless living have taken a toll on his life. He has tried countless times to control his addiction to opioids, he said.
The threat of fentanyl and xylazine – the threat of death – does not curb that addiction, Louie said.
“Every day I’m playing Russian Roulette with my life,” he said.
More than 900 people died from a drug overdose in Clark County from September 2022 to September 2023, the last 12-month period with data available, according to the CDC. In 2023, 302 people died from overdoses involving fentanyl in Clark County — a 28% increase from 2022.
After a quick drop-off, Mandell was back on the road. He was headed for an empty lot between Sahara Avenue and Charleston Boulevard just east of the Las Vegas Strip to drop off a pair of shoes to a homeless woman.
The woman, who asked her name not to be reported, said she was evicted from her home about nine months ago. She misuses drugs, especially the blue fentanyl pills – or M-30s – often reported across the area.
The woman said she hoped to get into treatment one day, but she was not ready.
“You’re just trying to get well and eventually when you get so well to when you get homeless you’re just existing day to day,” Mandell said.
The Southern Nevada Health District issued a warning on May 28 about xylazine in the illicit drug supply, adding resources are available to aid in harm reduction.
“Information like what we’ve been sharing about xylazine can be an important touchpoint for many people, oftentimes for folks who use drugs,” Jessica Johnson, a health education supervisor with SNHD, said. “It’s out of their control what’s in the illicit drug supply. Information can be a key touchpoint.”
Johnson added the threat of a xylazine overdose or seeing its effects could lead someone into treatment when they are ready.
Narcan, the opioid overdose antidote, will not work on xylazine since it is not an opioid.
SNHD offers resources through its Linkage to Action while the state offers resources at behavioralhealthnv.org. SNHD also provides drug test strips at its Decatur Boulevard location.
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