“Every day in the Commonwealth of Virginia, an average of five Virginians die from fentanyl poisoning. Just last year we lost over 2,000 Virginians just to fentanyl overdoses,” Youngkin said. “It takes an amount of fentanyl the size of a grain of salt to kill an individual. It is being laced into marijuana, into vapes, into pressed pills that look exactly like prescription medication that innocent Virginians are taking. We are not going to sit idly by and not spread the word.”
Last week, the First Lady helped lead a training course on administering naloxone, the antidote to a fentanyl overdose that can be critical to saving lives.
“She is campaigning for more and more Virginians to get the training — it takes a less than an hour — and to keep a recovery kit close at hand,” the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
This comes as Suzanne Youngkin recently launched an “all-hands-on-deck" anti-fentanyl pilot program to prevent overdoses in the Commonwealth.
As the Washington Examiner reported, Youngkin's program will bring together “numerous stakeholders, from the attorney general’s office and the Department of Health to community partners, including faith-based organizations, schools, and city emergency medical services.”
The First Lady also penned an op-ed in the Roanoke Times with Attorney General Jason Miyares stressing the need to address this epidemic and highlighting the importance of the It Only Takes One initiative, especially for young Virginians particularly susceptible to fentanyl poisoning.
“Nearly 200 teens and college-aged youth die from fentanyl each year. Today, it’s not a matter of if your child will be offered a pill laced with fentanyl — it’s become a matter of when,” Youngkin and Miyares wrote. “These young people were taken far too soon because of a highly addictive, illicit drug.
Suzanne Youngkin will continue to raise awareness about the dangers of fentanyl and use her It Only Takes One Initiative to help stop the fentanyl epidemic that continues to impact all Virginians.
“We are talking to Virginians about this danger. We are doing digital advertising and putting up billboards. We are working in our school systems. We are talking to faith-based communities YMCAs and youth sports leagues. We are saying: please talk about this – there's no shame in acknowledging that this sinister drug exists, so let’s step into the gap and support one another,” Youngkin said.
