However, the nature of the current opioid crisis, and the pathway to hope, can best be understood in the individual stories of pain and preventability involving fentanyl.

The striking reality is that in the 12 months ending in October 2021, 80,816 deaths were attributed to an overdose of opioids. More than 71,000 of them came from overdoses of synthetic fentanyl.

In 2022, The Washington Post shared the tragic story of Zach Didier. Zach was a 17-year-old Eagle Scout, soccer player, and high school musical star. Zach purchased what he thought was Percocet® on the instant messaging app, Snapchat. Tragically, what Zach bought was a “hot pill” or a fake prescription tablet containing a deadly level of illicit fentanyl. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this lethal drug, a synthetic opioid, can be up to 50 times more powerful than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. When Zach took this pill, it poisoned him by disrupting his ability to breathe, decreasing the amount of oxygen going to his brain, and ultimately ending his life.  

“The Superhighway of Drugs”

Snapchat and other social media sites have become “the superhighway of drugs,” according to Ann Milgram, who leads the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. Social media is being used by drug traffickers to advertise drugs and conduct sales. A drug trafficker can find anyone with a smartphone and a social media account, which also means they can find our kids who have social media accounts. Criminal drug networks mass-produce fake pills and falsely market them as legitimate prescription pills to deceive the American public—especially America’s youngest generations. 

Experimentation for Youth Can Be a Death Sentence

Many young people have never heard of illicit fentanyl or what it might have to do with them. Their lack of awareness increases their risk of death through experimentation. 

According to a 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), “Among people aged 12 or older in 2020, 3.4% (or 9.5 million people) misused opioids (heroin or prescription pain relievers) in the past year. Among the 9.5 million people who misused opioids in the past year, 9.3 million also misused prescription pain relievers….” This misuse makes them vulnerable to deadly substances like illicit fentanyl. 

Due to its heroin-like effect, most fentanyl overdoses are associated with being manufactured and distributed illegally on the market. Because of its extreme potency, fentanyl is frequently added to additional drugs making them inexpensive, more powerful, addictive, and incredibly dangerous.

Working to Get Ahead of the Curve

So how do we get ahead of this perilous movement into the lives of our children and young adults? How might parents, families, congregations, and community leaders increase protective factors that may prevent a young person from misuse in the first place—or help them make healthier decisions and set them up for a more resilient future?  

While the challenge is great, faith and community leaders can help to get ahead of the curve through local prevention efforts. At the Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships here at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), we have been working with faith and community leaders to strengthen their response to the opioid crisis and other critical health issues and crises.  

We recently released the Practical Toolkit for Preventing Drug Overdose and Supporting Recovery in Faith and Community Settings (4th Edition) (https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/preventing-drug-overdose-and-supporting-recovery-in-faith-and-community-settings.pdf) to guide community leaders in not only supporting those in treatment and recovery from Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) but also to help them lean into strategies that may prevent a young person from future misuse and other long-term harms. The toolkit has also been translated into Spanish (https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/june-2022-un-kit-de-herramientas-pr%C3%A1cticas.pdf) for use in Spanish-speaking congregations and communities.

Help Prevent Future Harm 

Faith and community-based organizations can be well positioned to increase protective factors for children and young adults, promote social norms that protect against violence and adversity, connect youths to caring adults and activities, and intervene to lessen immediate and long-term harm. 

It starts with strengthening the health literacy of communities as it relates to substance use disorders, addiction, and drug-related deaths. We all need to be educated on the current drug threats to have informed conversations with children and youth in our communities. Tools and resources are readily available that can be shared with family members and posted on congregational and community websites: 

Strengthen Your Community Response

Communities can also build their capacity to support prevention efforts by joining the actions of their local Drug-Free Community Coalition (https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/drug-free-communities/index.html). They can also participate in trainings such as Mental Health First Aid and Youth Mental Health First Aid (https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/population-focused-modules/youth/) that teach adults the basic skills to recognize and respond in the case of a mental or behavioral health crisis that includes substance use disorders. There is also teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA) (https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/population-focused-modules/teens/) teaching teenagers (in 10th-12th grade or between the ages of 15-18) how to identify, understand, and respond to mental health signs and substance use encounters with their friends and peers.

Be Prepared to Reverse an Overdose

If “one pill can kill,” we want to do everything in our power to prevent a mistake from ending a life. More and more community and school leaders are getting the training they need to administer the opioid-reversal drug, naloxone (https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugfacts/naloxone). According to one study, “bystanders were present in more than one in three overdoses involving opioids.”8  

Naloxone can be carried by anyone and administered to a person suffering from an overdose. Having the right tools can save lives by preventing overdose deaths. You can reach out to local public health departments, law enforcement, or some pharmacies to train community members. Here are a few helpful links:  

Learn About ACE’s Key Principles in the Prevention of Use

We are learning more about why some youths are more susceptible to risk-related behaviors than others. They are often the children who have been exposed to abuse, violence, neglect, mental illness, substance use disorders in their household, or any other Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) (https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/index.html). 

The greater the number of ACEs a person experiences, the greater the risk that person will develop poor health outcomes, engage in risky behaviors, or be at higher risk for substance use disorders and other long-term harms.9 

Fortunately, faith and community leaders can play a vital role in creating an environment and fellowship that offer protective factors that will buffer or mitigate ACEs. Learn more about ACEs by sharing and participating in the CDC’s newly released Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences: Training for Faith, Spiritual, and Religious Communities (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOC5dh4BNZQ). You and your community members will learn about risk and protective factors, outcomes associated with ACEs, and evidence-based strategies you can use to reduce or eliminate the impact of ACEs and stop them from occurring in the first place.

Friends, there is no sideline when it comes to the overdose crisis. Information in the right hands is a powerful tool and critical safety net against this current trend of drug trafficking to our most hopeful generation. Please let our office know if we can assist your efforts by reaching out to us at HHSPartnerships@hhs.gov. Thank you for being an agent of hope and a beacon of light to those who need you most in your community.  

Heidi Christensen, MTS, is a Public Affairs Specialist at the Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Her efforts focus on strengthening the capacity of faith and community organizations to respond to critical public health issues. Heidi has coordinated coalitions of diverse faith and community-based partners to address issues that have included childhood obesity, access to healthcare, the epidemic of addiction, and COVID-19 prevention, as well as the social and economic issues challenging the health of our nation’s communities. 

Endnotes

1 Ahmad, F.B., Cisewski, J.A., Rossen, L.M., & Sutton, P. Provisional drug overdose death counts. National Center for Health Statistics. 2023. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm.

2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, May 11). U.S. overdose deaths in 2021 increased half as much as in 2020 – but are still up 15%. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved January 11, 2023, from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/202205.htm#print.

3 Zach Didier’s death shows risks of fentanyl ‘poison pills,’ Snapchat sales. The Washington Post. Retrieved December 16, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/11/30/fentanyl-fake-pills-social-media/.

4 Ibid.

5 What every parent and caregiver needs to know about FAKE PILLS. (2022, November). Retrieved January 11, 2023, from https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2022-11/DEA-OPCK_Parent%20flyer_V2.pdf.

6 Illicit fentanyl PSA. Get Smart About Drugs. (2022, October 19). Retrieved January 11, 2023, from https://www.getsmartaboutdrugs.gov/illicit-fentanyl-psa.

7 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2021). Key substance use and mental health indicators in the United States: Results from the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (HHS Publication No. PEP21-07-01-003, NSDUH Series H-56). Rockville, MD: Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Retrieved January 11, 2023, from https://www.samhsa.gov/data/.

8 Zach Didier’s death shows risks of fentanyl ‘poison pills,’ Snapchat sales.

9 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2019). Preventing adverse childhood experiences: Leveraging the best available evidence. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.