Youngkin announces fentanyl awareness campaign will be rolled out statewide

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Virginia is taking another step in the fight against fentanyl.

On Tuesday, Governor Glenn Youngkin announced Virginia would be rolling out the “It Only Takes One” fentanyl awareness campaign statewide after launching it in Roanoke earlier this year.

“What we hear over and over again from students when we tell them that this little gram of fentanyl, two grams of it can kill you, they look at us and say, ‘We didn’t know. We never heard this,’” Youngkin said. “So we fully believe at the top of the list is we must educate everyone on the risks of fentanyl.”

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As part of the effort, Youngkin announced the Fentanyl Families Ambassador Program, which will provide families affected by the opioid crisis with monthly training, toolkits and other resources to help spread awareness about fentanyl in an effort to reduce overdoses.

“It only takes one bad decision to buy a pill that you think is Percocet from someone you don’t know to end a life and to change a family forever,” said Youngkin.

First Lady Suzanne Youngkin also announced on Tuesday that, for the second year in a row, fentanyl-related deaths in Virginia declined in 2023.