Suzanne Youngkin, the first lady of Virginia, is leading a new public fight against fentanyl, an extremely dangerous and deadly synthetic opioid.
The campaign, which is called “It Only Takes One,” aims to warn families that just one bad mistake with the drug can cost someone their life.
In an interview with WTOP, Youngkin said her interest in the matter was “sparked by the loss of a dear friend” who died in Great Falls, Virginia, in 2020 due to fentanyl.
“I’ve really set about listening to Virginians, hearing their stories, understanding their loved ones and how much they are being missed,” Youngkin said.
An average of five Virginians die from fentanyl poisoning every day, becoming the leading cause of unnatural deaths statewide.
On Tuesday, Youngkin announced the launch of the new fentanyl awareness program, which will start in the Roanoke area and potentially expand to other regions of Virginia in the future.
Roanoke has the highest number of overdose deaths of any metro area in Virginia, and three out of four such deaths involve fentanyl, Youngkin said.
The program will include billboards, digital ads, a social media campaign, educational tools in schools and resource boards at churches, gyms and restaurants.
“We think it’s critically important to make sure that there is data to support our efforts,” Youngkin said. “We want to know what works and what doesn’t work, so this is an all hands on deck initiative.”
Over the next six months, Youngkin and officials with the Virginia Department of Health will monitor the program’s progress.
“If we can prove that lives are saved through awareness, then we hope to see this program into other at-risk communities and then see it flourish across the entirety of the state if and when that makes sense,” Youngkin said.
Nationwide fatal overdoses began steadily climbing in the 1990s, driven by opioid painkillers, followed by waves of deaths led by other opioids, such as heroin and, most recently, fentanyl. The drug is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.
It is commonly mixed with drugs, such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine, or made into pills that resemble other prescription opioids.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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