The leading cause of death for young Americans between the ages of 18 and 45 is not climate change, COVID, or gun violence, but fentanyl.

Communities across Texas and the nation have been plagued by this deadly drug that has taken the lives of loved ones, neighbors, and friends. One person dying of a drug overdose is one too many. In Texas’s 25th Congressional District, Hays and Travis counties’ drug overdoses rose between 2019 and 2021. Across the state, Texas saw a 670% increase in fentanyl deaths from 2015 to 2021. Across the country, drug overdose deaths topped 100,000 for the first time ever in 2021.