Film, panel discussion will address impact of fentanyl

Free Lance-Star - 5/6/2023

May 6—Concerned about the ongoing threat of fentanyl, three Fredericksburg-area agencies are teaming up on Tuesday for an online presentation of a documentary, followed by a panel discussion about efforts to prevent overdoses.

Rappahannock Area Community Services Board, the Opioid Workgroup and Harm Reduction Committee and the Community Collaborative for Youth and Families will present an online screening of "Dead on Arrival" at 7 p.m. Tuesday, which is National Fentanyl Awareness Day.

The 20-minute film includes first-person accounts of fentanyl deaths as told by surviving parents who started the support group VOID, or Victims of Illicit Drugs, to spread awareness and education. It will be followed by a panel discussion about local initiatives.

Fentanyl has been ravaging Virginia, leaving a skyrocketing number of deaths in its wake. In the past decade, fentanyl-related fatalities have tripled, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

Drugs killed more than 107,000 Americans from January 2021 to January 2022, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In that same time frame, there were 2,669 fatal overdoses in Virginia, and VDH reports that three-fourths of them involved fentanyl.

In the Fredericksburg area, Spotsylvania County has been hardest hit by the opioid epidemic. The VDH reports 226 deaths related to fentanyl from 2007 to 2022. That's compared to 154 death for the same time period in Stafford County.

VDH's preliminary totals for fentanyl-related overdose deaths from 2022 show the following fatalities per locality:

* Caroline County: 6

* Culpeper County: 13

* Fauquier County: 15

* Fredericksburg: 11

* King George County: 3

* Orange County: 12

* Spotsylvania County: 44

* Stafford County: 25

* Westmoreland County: 2

One of the most powerful opioids in the world, fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pharmaceutical fentanyl is prescribed by doctors to treat severe pain, especially after surgery and for advanced-stage cancer, the CDC reports.

"However, most recent cases of fentanyl-related overdose are linked to illicitly manufactured fentanyl, which is distributed through illegal drug markets for its heroin-like effect," according to the CDC website on fentanyl. "It is often added to other drugs because of its extreme potency, which makes drugs cheaper, more powerful, more addictive and more dangerous."

Local efforts include training on how to use naloxone, the antidote to opioid overdose, and dispensing doses of it. The discussion following the documentary will focus on these efforts and other local interventions.

Registration for the event is available at ow.ly/JgGe50OaurB.

Information about RACSB training and how to reverse opioid overdoses is available at rappahannockareacsb.org/naloxone.

For more information about the event, email prevention@rappahannockareacsb.org.

Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425

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