HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Tuesday is the first ever National Fentanyl Awareness Day, but overdoses are about people, not about statistics, according to Seth Dewey with the Reno County Health Department.
"Every single one of those numbers or every single one of those dots on those programs like ODMap, it's really sombering when we think, every one of those is a son or a brother or a father," Dewey said. "That's the thing that I think we all have to keep in mind when we look at that."
Fentanyl is now the #1 cause of death for Americans age 18-45.
"We, as a society and the structures that make up our systems, have to normalize having the hard conversations, right?" Dewey said. "Realizing that substance use disorder or addiction is a chronic yet treatable brain illness. That's the actual classification and that's why people with substance use disorder now even fit in under the Americans with Disabilities Act."
The Drug Enforcement Administration estimates that about 40% of illegal pills have lethal doses of fentanyl, so getting those that use to do so in a safe environment may be the first step to keeping them alive long enough to treat the underlying illness.