This Tuesday was National Fentanyl Awareness Day under a resolution introduced this week by Congressman Fred Upton in the U.S. House. He tells WSJM News the goal is to make more Americans aware of the dangers of the synthetic opioid.
“We’ve been trying to work with the FDA to try to schedule these in such a way that there’s actually criminal penalties when these occur, even more so than normal,” Upton said. “The really terrible thing about these drugs is they’re so effective is it just tacks a little spec, a grain of sand in size, that can actually lead to death.”
As of March 2022, fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 45, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Upton says number of counterfeit pills containing fentanyl seized by the DEA has increased more than 500% since 2019.
