BUCKEYE, AZ — Fentanyl continues to be the most deadly drug in Arizona, and an average of three people die a day due to fentanyl overdoses in Maricopa County alone.
Way Out West and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office say reversing those number starts with honest conversations with community members and kids.
“It’s not a drug, it’s a poison," Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said. "And one pill can kill.”
Mitchell continued her fentanyl forum tour around the Valley in Buckeye, the event included free life-saving overdose prevention medicine and access to community health resources.
“The intensity, the number of cases, are happening more and more," She said to the audience at the Palo Verde Energy Community Center.
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Between drugs laced with fentanyl, dealers selling on social media, and our proximity to the border, she says parents need to educate themselves and have open conversations with their kids.
“Parents need to know how much drug dealing has changed since they were this age,” Mitchell said.
Since 2022, over 500 teens have been dying a year due to fentanyl.
One West Valley mom brought her son to the forum, saying it was important to come even if she already talked to her son about the dangers of opioids.
“The more education you have, the better off you are," She said.
The forum also included keynote speaker Stephanie Siete, who has been giving drug education talks around Arizona for two decades.
She says it’s important to continue educating the public, even though overdose deaths are technically declining for the first time in years.
“Last year you can say there was a decline in overdose deaths," Siete said. "I don’t really glorify that because every year we are losing over 100,000 people due to overdoses in this country."
Click here for information on how to get free Narcan in the Valley.
