ICYMI: Governor Youngkin and First Lady Suzanne Youngkin continue to lead a comprehensive effort to combat the fentanyl crisis in Virginia and raise awareness about the dangers of the fentanyl.
On Fentanyl Awareness Day, the Governor and First Lady led a call to action at City Stadium for college, high school, and youth sports coaches to use their mentor and leadership positions with young people to combat fentanyl overdoses.
As the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports, the Youngkins outlined three simple actions coaches can take to educate their players on the dangers of fentanyl:
The first is to talk to their teams about the dangers of fentanyl and specifically about the deadly risk from pain pills they may have bought online or from a friend, instead of with a doctor’s prescription and under a pharmacist’s careful eye.
The second: that each coach designate someone on the team as a point person — a kind of ambassador — to keep spreading the word about fentanyl’s dangers and to encourage teammates to learn what an overdose looks like and how to reverse it with naloxone.
The third: to take the message about fentanyl’s danger and about what an overdose looks like and how to treat it, to the many summer camps that are soon to start running.
This comes as combating fentanyl overdoses continues to be a top priority for the Governor and First Lady.
First Lady Suzanne Youngkin launched a comprehensive initiative – It Only Takes One – to raise awareness about the crisis which takes the lives of five Virginians every day on average.
“Our messaging is very clear: It only takes one. Now, obviously, that speaks to the fact that you can take one pill, one joint, one vape to steal a light if it’s laced with fentanyl,” Youngkin told Fox News. “But simultaneously, what we’re saying is it only takes one serious conversation.”
Suzanne Youngkin led a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Roanoke on Fentanyl Awareness Day for the opening of a Four Truths Recovery Housing initiative location that will provide a space for those overcoming substance abuse.
The First Lady’s initiative, which was launched in collaboration with the Attorney General’s office, the Department of Health, and community partners, is an “all-hands-on-deck” approach to preventing fentanyl overdose deaths in the Commonwealth.
As Suzanne Youngkin wrote in an op-ed with Attorney General Jason Miyares, the initiative is especially designed to protect young people from fentanyl as they are more susceptible to this crisis.
“Nearly 200 teens and college-aged youth die from fentanyl each year. Today, it’s not a matter of if your child will be offered a pill laced with fentanyl — it’s become a matter of when,” Youngkin and Miyares wrote. “These young people were taken far too soon because of a highly addictive, illicit drug. In fact, in the Roanoke-Salem area, one of the most heavily impacted regions of the commonwealth, nearly all the overdose deaths among teens and college-aged kids have been a result of fentanyl.”
Yesterday, she reiterated her commitment to the cause in an op-ed alongside Roanoke mother and local Peer Recovery Specialist Destinee Vance.
“There’s no such thing as ‘not our problem’ with fentanyl. It’s a Roanoke problem, a Virginia problem — an everyone problem. As Virginians, it’s time to come together to fight this deadly opioid that is threatening our loved ones and our communities. The more people we get involved, the more people we can save.”
In April, Governor Youngkin signed bipartisan legislation into law to address the manufacturing of counterfeit pills used to traffic fentanyl. As the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported, the legislation “makes it a felony to adulterate medication and to possess the pill-making machines used to make those fakes.”
“By signing this legislation, we are more resolved, more emboldened, more unified, and more focused than ever before to ensure no more Virginians die as a result of this fentanyl epidemic,” Governor Youngkin said when signing the bill. “We are sending a powerful message that Virginia will take critical action against the production and distribution of this horrible poison, and we will not tolerate the devastation wrought by this deadly substance.
The Youngkins will continue to lead the effort with key partners to raise awareness about the dangers of fentanyl, stop the trafficking of this poison, and protect Virginians from this crisis.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH: Youngkin calls on coaches to help warn about fentanyl
It might have seemed an unexpected place to talk about a deadly scourge – the Richmond Kickers’ home field to mark National Fentanyl Awareness Day – but for Gov. Glenn Youngkin it was a chance to reach out to a group he feels will make a difference: coaches.
Those are the same kind of people that Youngkin, once a high school and college basketball player, said steered him right so many times as a teenager – when “I probably spent more time with coaches and teammates than with my parents,” he told a gathering of college, high school and other youth sports coaches at City Stadium.
Four Truths Recovery is just one of the many ways Wright has given her life to helping people with addiction. She not only works at the Bradley Free Clinic as a behavioral health manager, but she is also involved in first lady Youngkin’s “It Only Takes One” campaign, which focuses solely on the opioid crisis in Roanoke.
“Our messaging is very clear: It only takes one. Now, obviously, that speaks to the fact that you can take one pill, one joint, one vape to steal a light if it’s laced with fentanyl,” Youngkin told Fox News Digital. “But simultaneously, what we’re saying is it only takes one serious conversation.
WRIC: Youngkin holds event in Richmond on National Fentanyl Awareness Day
Preliminary data from the Virginia Department of Health shows more than 1,900 Virginians died from fentanyl overdoses in 2023. That’s why Governor Glenn Youngkin and First Lady Suzanne Youngkin held an event at City Stadium in Richmond on May 7, which is National Fentanyl Awareness Day. Tom Mazich of Fairfax County joined the Youngkins for the event. Mazich’s 21-year-old son, Greyson, died three years ago after an accidental fentanyl overdose during his senior year of college.
WSLS: Breaking the cycle: Roanoke’s new recovery house aims to combat addiction
On April 1, Wright and her team at Four Truth’s Recovery got the keys to their new recovery house location, and on Tuesday, they cut the ribbon, making way for new hope in Roanoke. “We’re here to foster hope, spread the message that recovery is possible. Because among the many exciting things happening here today, I also celebrate eight years of healing and recovery,” Wright said. First Lady Suzanne Youngkin joined Wright and her team for the ribbon cutting to show her support for the recovery house and its impact on the Roanoke Valley. “We have seen instances time and time again of success stories like Christine. Someone who really battled those demons, and came out on the other side and is now sowing seeds of goodness into her community and into the Commonwealth,” Youngkin said.
WDBJ: New residential program in Roanoke supports recovery from addiction
A new residential program in Roanoke will provide support for people who are working to overcome addiction. First Lady of Virginia Suzanne Youngkin described the program as “a beacon of hope” during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday morning. Youngkin looked on as Four Truths Recovery Co-Founder Christine Wright cut the ribbon. Later, Youngkin toured the home on Staunton Avenue and told reporters she has learned that recovery housing is a critical need across the Commonwealth. “I’m particularly excited to see this come online and see what is next,” Youngkin said. “Christine and I were talking about the possibility of the next home being for women and children and that would really expand a much-needed footprint of care here in the Commonwealth.”
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