Murray State University held a panel discussion Tuesday on the dangers of illicit fentanyl and how federal, state and local governments are combating the opioid epidemic through three main strategies – prevention, treatment, and enforcement.
Panelists at Murray State’s Drug Safety Summit talked about different ways to help with these efforts – including destigmatizing addiction, teaching children early on about the dangers of illicit drugs, and making opioid overdose reversal medication more widely accessible.
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said illicit substances are more deadly than they were in prior decades.
“We exist in an environment where one pill can kill,” he said. “[It’s] not just a slogan, not just something on a billboard. It's the reality in our Commonwealth reality and counties all across our Commonwealth.”
According to the 2022 Overdose Fatality Report released by the Kentucky Justice and Safety Cabinet, 90% of overdose deaths in the Commonwealth that year involved opioids, with fentanyl being the most prevalent drug detected in those deaths.
Jim Carroll is a former director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. He encouraged more people to carry naloxone, a medication that can reverse an overdose from opioids.
“Just like [having] a fire extinguisher in your house doesn’t mean you are a pyromaniac, having naloxone in your house does not make you or your family members, you know, have to carry the stigma of addiction,” Carroll said.
Susan Bissett, the president of the nonprofit group Drug Intervention Institution, also took part in MSU’s panel. Working in higher education for over 25 years, she said one common misconception younger people have is thinking that substance misuse won’t impact them or their friends.
“I’ve responded to an overdose on campus where naloxone was not present. I watched [first responders] put my student into a body bag. It can happen to anyone,” Bissett said.
That event inspired Bissett to create ONEbox, a kit that contains naloxone and tutorials on how to use it when someone is potentially suffering an overdose from opioids.
Panelists also touched on topics such as the difference between substance misuse and substance use disorder; drug cartels and their reach in the United States; misconceptions of substance misuse; and how agencies combat the presence of counterfeit pills.
