DEA Recognizes First Ever National Fentanyl Awareness Day
DALLAS – In an effort to save lives, DEA is proud to join “Song for Charlie” and many of our valued public health, non-profit, and law enforcement partners in recognizing the first ever National Fentanyl Awareness Day. This day is an effort to educate individuals around the dangerous threat that fentanyl poses to the safety, health, and national security of the American people.
To mark National Fentanyl Awareness Day, DEA released a video announcement from DEA Administrator Anne Milgram stressing the dangers of fentanyl and the need for urgent action.
“Fentanyl is killing Americans at unprecedented rates,” said Milgram. “On this first-ever National Fentanyl Awareness Day, please help save lives by making sure you talk with your friends and family about the dangers of this deadly drug.”
DEA Dallas, Dallas Police Department and local law enforcement agencies throughout North Texas are partnering together sharing intelligence and committed to reducing drug overdoses. Through days such as this, communities are asked to partner with law enforcement to educate and bring awareness to the devastating toll fentanyl and other illicit drugs places on families.
“On this National Fentanyl Awareness day, we urge the public to obtain prescription drugs only from state-licensed pharmacies”, said, DEA Dallas Special Agent in Charge Eduardo A. Chávez. DEA will continue to aggressively investigate the distribution of diverted and counterfeit prescription drugs in our neighborhoods. The memories of those lives lost to drug overdose must not be in vain but we cannot do this alone. If you have any information regarding drug trafficking in your community please contact DEA Dallas at 214-366-6900 or submit a tip www.dea.gov/submit-tip.”
Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia said, “By increasing fentanyl awareness and the danger of counterfeit drugs, we can save lives. Most aren’t aware of the deadly effects of street drugs before taking them. As a police department, we are doing all we can to keep dangerous substances off our streets. The Dallas Police Department is committed to working with our partners, not only to stop the supply, but also educate to prevent overdoses and deaths.”
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is approximately 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. It is inexpensive, widely available, and highly addictive. Drug traffickers are increasingly mixing fentanyl with other illicit drugs—in powder and pill form—to drive addiction and create repeat customers. Many people who are overdosing and dying don’t even know that they are taking fentanyl.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in the United States, nearly 107,000 people died as the result of a drug overdose in the 12-month period ending November 2021. Sixty-six percent of overdose deaths involved synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.
DEA has created a special exhibit for its museum, The Faces of Fentanyl, to commemorate the lives lost from fentanyl poisoning. If you would like to submit a photo of a loved one lost to fentanyl, please submit their name and photo to fentanylawareness@dea.gov, or post a photo and their name to social media using the hashtag #NationalFentanylAwarenessDay.
For more information on the dangers of fentanyl, visit www.DEA.gov/fentanylawareness.
