Over the Overdoses - What Parents Need to Know About the Dangers of Fentanyl
There are young people purchasing pills on social media under the assumption that the pill is a Percocet or Xanax when it reality the pill is laced with a lethal amount of fentanyl. The Drug Enforcement Agency has estimated that 40% of tablets such as Vicodin, Oxycotin, and Xanax, which were not purchased from a pharmacy are fake and laced with deadly levels of Fentanyl. In 2021, 108,000 people died in the U.S. from drug overdoses, the majority due to Fentanyl. We want our students to live – to see, experience, and change the future. We – community leaders, school staff, parents, and peers – can all play a role in making sure that happens. This conversation will help us to understand fentanyl’s impact on our youth and what we can do about it. Hear from Assistant Special Agent in Charge Patrick Simpson of the DEA, Heath Stone from Medstar, Erica Castillo of SOAR, and Tiffany Turner, intervention counselor with EMS ISD about what parents and students can do to protect themselves from this growing threat.