Virginia first lady Suzanne Youngkin will be announcing on Tuesday a pilot program for dealing with the fentanyl epidemic in the commonwealth, focusing on education and support resources to prevent overdose deaths.
Youngkin told the Washington Examiner that the campaign, which will first be launched in the greater Roanoke area, is called “It Only Takes One” because “it really does only take one pill or one marijuana join or one mistake for someone to lose their life.”
There have been 7,000 fentanyl overdose deaths in Virginia since 2020, 381 of which have been in the Roanoke and Salem areas, according to the Virginia Department of Health. Three-fourths of all overdose deaths in Virginia are due to fentanyl.
Roanoke has the highest concentration of overdose deaths of any metro area in the state, and the number of fentanyl deaths in the greater Roanoke area has more than doubled since 2019.
Organized by the first lady’s office, the pilot program has an “all-hands on deck” operation, Youngkin said, bringing 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 program offers a multipronged approach to increasing awareness about the prevalence and deadliness of fentanyl utilizing online and in-person training tools. Youngkin said she hopes that with the success of the program in Roanoke, the model can be used in other high-risk communities and eventually spread across the state, including the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region.
“What’s very interesting is that fentanyl does not discriminate,” Youngkin said when asked about the effects of the epidemic on different communities. “It just does not care if you are old, young, rich, poor, urban, rural, black, white. It just does not discriminate.”
Youngkin said she is most concerned about the rising rates of overdose deaths and drug use among children, teenagers, and young adults.
“What we’re seeing among youth is a real mental health crisis,” Youngkin said, citing the growing rates of children and teens with depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions. “What’s happening among our youth is they’re looking to things to make them feel better. And what is so scary about fentanyl is that it is being put into drugs that our youth have been told will help make you feel better.”
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Youngkin told the Washington Examiner that she has spoken with many families that have lost children or loved ones to fentanyl who did not know the lethal substance is laced in commonly abused pills or other illicit drugs, such as marijuana. Improved education programs on the dangers of the drug is critical, she said.
“If we can get into Roanoke and prove via all of these efforts that we can move the needle on Virginians’ understanding of the dangers and increase the conversations and cultivation of an environment of exploration around this horrific issue, we’re hoping to save lives,” Youngkin said.
