Fentanyl Awareness
#The Crisis
“Fentanyl is the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered,” said Administrator Anne Milgram. “Fentanyl is everywhere. From large metropolitan areas to rural America, no community is safe from this poison. We must take every opportunity to spread the word to prevent fentanyl-related overdose death and poisonings from claiming scores of American lives every day.”
According to the CDC, 107,375 people in the United States died of drug overdoses and drug poisonings in the 12-month period ending in January 2022. A staggering 67 percent of those deaths involved synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Some of these deaths were attributed to fentanyl mixed with other illicit drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin, with many users unaware they were actually taking fentanyl. Only two milligrams of fentanyl is considered a potentially lethal dose; it’s particularly dangerous for someone who does not have a tolerance to opioids.
Assessment of threat
According to the Alabama Department of Mental Health, there were 417 admissions into treatment centers for the abuse of fentanyl in 2021 compared to 150 in 2020, representing a 64% increase. Fentanyl is continuing to increase at an alarming rate throughout the State. In 2021, EPIC reports over 8 kilograms and 1169 dosage units of fentanyl seized in investigations in Alabama. Fentanyl has been encountered in the form of counterfeit pills as well as mixed in with multiple other drugs. The fentanyl related overdose death rate has continued to increase in Alabama in 2021.
Raising public awareness about a national public health crisis: people are dying at alarming rates due to illegally made fentanyl (fen-ta-nyl), a dangerous synthetic opioid. Get the facts and share them widely. Join us for our second annual activation on May 9, 2023.
Faces of Fentanyl
DEA has created a special exhibit, The Faces of Fentanyl, to commemorate the lives lost from fentanyl poisoning. If you would like to submit a photo of a loved one lost to fentanyl, please send* their name, age, and photograph to fentanylawareness@dea.gov, or post a photo and their name to social media using the hashtag #JustKNOW.
*BY SUBMITTING PHOTOGRAPHS AND SHARING YOUR STORY, YOU AUTHORIZE THE DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION (DEA), THE RIGHT TO USE THESE MATERIALS WITHOUT LIMITATION.
Fentanyl Post Card
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© 2020 Southwest Alabama Opioid Response Project
The Southwest Alabama Opioid Response Project is an initiative of the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program and aims to reduce the morbidity and mortality of substance use disorder (SUD), including opioid use disorder (OUD) in the rural Alabama communities of Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington, Dallas, Escambia, Greene, Henry, Marengo, Monroe, Perry, Sumter and Wilcox Counties.
This website is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of 3 awards totaling $3,000,000 with 0% financed with non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit HRSA.gov.
