Local healthcare professionals are sharing some ways you can keep yourself and your kids safe from fentanyl and other opioids.
Medical professionals say the first step you should take if you think your child may have been exposed to fentanyl is to call 911.
“There’s altered mental status, confusion, less responsive to the stimulus,” Derrick Botkins, Director of Pharmacy Services at LewisGale Hospital said. “You know, shake a shoulder and don’t get a response. Slow breathing.”
According to the CDC, over 150 people die every day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
“The Roanoke Valley has an opioid abuse issue,” Botkins said. “I mean opioid overdoses through our ED is not uncommon.”
Medical professionals recommend parents keep any prescriptions up and away from kids, and educate them on the dangers of drugs.
“Fentanyl is an opioid that is 100 times stronger than morphine,” Blue Ridge Poison Center Education Coordinator Kristin Wenger said. “So, as little as 2 milligrams, which is the amount that fits on the tip of a pencil lead, is enough to cause a deadly overdose.”
Wenger said they’ve seen a huge issue lately with people buying prescription pills online.
“They’re not made safely,” Wenger said. “There’s no way to know for sure what’s in them and how much is in them. People can easily overdose on it.”
According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, they’ve seized a record 74.5 million fentanyl pills this year.