Phase 2 of the campaign “It Only Takes One” begins to combat the fentanyl issue

Roanoke, Virginia – The Virginia Department of Health finds that overdoses and fentanyl-related deaths are declining across Virginia for the first time in three years, but Roanoke’s numbers remain alarming.
The “It Only Takes One” campaign talks on how important it is to raise awareness of fentanyl’s risks and drug usage.

The initiative’s leaders are Attorney General Jason Miyares and First Lady Suzanne Youngkin of Virginia.

According to the First Lady, there is a 2.3% decrease in numbers in Virginia for every 100,000 residents.

“The troubling news is that Roanoke remains a community that is burdened with a greater percentage of overdose deaths that are either acceptable to us and/or we need to keep focusing attention on it,” said Suzanne Youngkin.

More than 600 adults in Roanoke have vowed to inform those they care about about the risks associated with fentanyl.

Authorities are looking into major social media sites like Snapchat and Instagram because they believe they could be the entry point for drug distribution in the neighborhood, given the city’s persistently high incidence of overdose deaths.

“Their child no longer goes out onto a street corner to perhaps buy drugs; now it’s just delivered to their home, often through the same social media apps that we all understand and know,” said Miyares.

The 2023 campaign advertisements increased teens’ knowledge of fentanyl by 32%, their awareness that a single tablet can be fatal by 46%, and their likelihood of knowing that fentanyl is present in illegal narcotics by 24%.

According to Miyares, getting parents to have conversations with their children regarding drug misuse has proven to be difficult.

“I’ve heard so often, particularly for families that have lost loved ones to fentanyl poisoning, that so many moms and dads say ‘I wish I had known. I wish I had known how prevalent this was, I thought this wasn’t happening in my community or my child’s high school.’ And so we want to make sure that these parents get that information so they can have that conversation with their loved ones,” said Miyares.

Phase 2 of the campaign will see First Lady Youngkin and the Attorney General traveling around the state of Virginia to deliver the message to significant localities.