Attorney General Miyares and the First Lady of Virginia Suzanne Youngkin visited CHS for the “One Pill Can Kill” Fentanyl Awareness and Narcan Training event. 

“One Pill Can Kill” focuses on reducing opioid deaths and educating Virginians on the dangerous fentanyl-laced pills. His campaign also provides resources to community members.

To prevent drug overdoses and fentanyl poisoning, Miyares has partnered his One Pill Can Kill campaign with Youngkin’s It Only Takes One initiative.

In addition to Miyares and Youngkin, moderator Virginia School Board Member Carolyn Weems, and a panel including Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Agent Patrick Hardrig, Virginia Beach (VB) Police Chief Paul Neudugate, and Shannon Doyle, who lost her daughter to fentanyl, spoke. 

According to the DEA, fentanyl is a Schedule II synthetic opioid that is 100 times more potent than morphine. When Fentanyl is not prescribed by licensed medical personnel, it is dangerous.

Illicit fentanyl is manufactured in clandestine labs and then sold on the illegal drug market. The opioid is used by drug dealers and cartels in counterfeit pills to enhance the drugs it’s mixed with.

Fentanyl has been found in multiple drugs, as well as in vapes, Cannabidiol (CBD) products, and in marijuana.

The lethal dose for fentanyl is two milligrams, equivalent to the amount that can fit on the tip of a pencil. Due to the lack of “quality control”, it is unknown how much illicit fentanyl is in each pill. 

According to Hardrig, the number of sugar in a sugar packet is equivalent to the amount of fentanyl that would kill 500 people.

The DEA seized 70 million counterfeit pills last year, with 7/10 containing the lethal dose of fentanyl. 

Fentanyl used in counterfeit pills can range from 5.1 milligrams to one kilogram, an amount that would kill 500,000 people.

According to PBS News, there were more than 1,500 accidental overdose deaths in teenagers between ages 0-19 in 2023 in the United States.

This number of tragic juvenile overdoses is largely because drug dealers have moved from selling narcotics on the dark web to selling them directly to teenagers through social media applications such as Snapchat and TikTok.

Teenagers purchase what they assume are real, fentanyl-free prescription pills, which are then shipped to their location. Since fentanyl is so potent, victims can overdose in minutes.

“…so many young people think it will never happen to me, or a loved one or a friend. It absolutely can and has,” Miyares said.

The effects of fentanyl is mirrored in the staggering amount of opioid deaths in the local community.

According to Miyares, more than 2,000 Virginians died of fentanyl overdoses in 2022.

To put the effects of fentanyl into perspective, VB Chief Police Officer Neudigate used fentanyl and opioid related statistics.

According to Neudigate, the VB Police seized 7,025 pills, and reported 40 juvenile overdoses, with 5 fatal in 2023.

He also stated that there were 339 overdoses in the same year, with 85 being fatal, increasing the number of fatal overdoses from 20 percent, in 2022, to 25 percent.

“We live in a very safe community…But that does not make us immune to the scourge of illegal drug activity that is killing our residents and our visitors,” Neudigate said.

Parents such as Shannon Doyle and Carolyn Weems are also spreading awareness on the dangers of fentanyl.

According to Doyle, her daughter was sixteen for two weeks before she died of fentanyl poisoning.

Doyle explained that her daughter met someone who had overdosed after getting her first job in 2021, and then in late January, she found Mikayla unconscious in her room.

Mikayla’s toxicology report showed that she had ingested a pill that was 100 percent fentanyl.

Weems understands what Doyle went through, having lost her daughter to fentanyl poisoning in 2013. Her daughter’s name was Caitlyn and she was 21- years old.

Caitlyn assumed that she was given a Percocet, but actually consumed a fentanyl-laced pill, which led to her tragic overdose death.

“Mikayla is not a statistic, my Caitlyn is not a statistic,” Weems said. “They had hopes, they had dreams, and… this has taken away everything.”

After the discussion concluded, REVIVE Training Coach Steven Herring began his Narcan training.

Herring’s training discussed many topics such as what opioids are and the risks of fentanyl poisoning, as well as educating individuals on what Naloxone is and how to use it to recover overdose victims.

According to Herring, Naloxone is an opioid overdose reversal medication that locates opioids in the brain to reverse and stop their effects. Naloxone comes in nasal sprays and injections, and lasts for 30-90 minutes after being administered.

Herring ensured the audience that the medication is safe to administer to someone who in fact didn’t overdose. He also cautioned attendees to remain with overdose victims for three minutes before administering the second dose, or until the police or ambulance arrives.

Along with the Fentanyl Awareness and Narcan Training event in the auditorium, the Old Dominion University Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS), VB Psychiatric Center, VB Health Department, Victim Notification (VNP), and REVIVE Training sign up desk, spread awareness on their programs and fentanyl.

“One choice, one mistake, and it cost her (Mikayla) her life. Don’t let it cost you yours or someone you love,” Doyle said.