National Fentanyl Awareness Day is May 7

OLYMPIA – Most overdose deaths in Washington state now involve fentanyl. Knowing the facts about fentanyl is an important way people can help keep each other safe.

Tuesday, May 7, is National Fentanyl Awareness Day—a day everyone is encouraged to take action to educate others about the risks of fentanyl and address the urgent overdose crisis. One of the primary calls to action for this year’s National Fentanyl Awareness Day is for parents and caregivers to talk to the teens in their lives about the harm caused by fentanyl, especially fentanyl pills which mimic the look of real prescription pills.

Washington’s “Friends for Life” fentanyl education campaign is a statewide effort to inform teens, young adults, and their parents and caregivers about the risks of fentanyl and the power of naloxone to reverse opioid overdoses. Through the campaign, people in communities across Washington can access free information and tools that can help them raise awareness about fentanyl and take actionable steps to prevent overdose deaths. Resources include:

A conversation guide that walks parents and caregivers through when, where, and how to talk to teens about fentanyl and suggests realistic refusal skills that adults can help teens practice. 

Facts and FAQs about fentanyl and naloxone, and how fentanyl is affecting Washington communities.

Illustrated details about how to spot an overdose, how to use naloxone to reverse an overdose, and where to get the opioid reversal medication.

Overdose deaths across the U.S. and Washington state are increasing rapidly. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate 75% of the nearly 107,000 overdose deaths in 2021 (the most current year with available data) involved an opioid like fentanyl. In Washington state, over 17,500 residents died from a drug overdose between 2007 and 2021, with 68% of those deaths involving opioids. Rates continue to rise; the state saw a nearly two-fold increase in opioid overdose deaths from 2019 – 2021 alone.   

Increasing awareness about fentanyl starts at home. Research shows that a majority of teens listen to and trust their parents and caregivers more than anyone when it comes to advice and information about not using drugs. Most Washington teens don’t knowingly seek out fentanyl, but the drug is frequently pressed into fake prescription pills that look like real Adderall, Percocet, Xanax, and OxyContin. In many instances, teens and young adults are encountering fentanyl without meaning to, believing they took a real prescription pill.

“Pills that are bought illegally may look like the prescription pills they are meant to mimic. But these pills are made in illicit labs and there is no way to know what you are taking or how much.” said Charissa Fotinos, M.D., State Medicaid Director at HCA. “Fentanyl has no unique color, taste, or smell, so it’s impossible to know just by looking whether a pill contains fentanyl.” This is why it is important to learn to recognize the signs of an overdose and carry naloxone.”

To learn more, visit WAFriendsForLife.com.