“Just one pill can kill.” This was said on Feb. 2 by the Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. Bird came to speak to the Atlantic High School students about Fentanyl’s impact on and in our community.
According to Iowa Capital Dispatch in March of 2023, drug overdose deaths have increased in Iowa since 2019. For people 25 and younger, this increase was 120 percent. This is important to consider because most of these deaths were caused by a lethal amount of Fentanyl being found in other consumed substances.
Bird continued on to discuss how little Fentanyl needs to be consumed for it to become lethal. She demonstrated this to the students of AHS by displaying an image of a pencil with powder on the tip. “There is no safe dosage,” she said. This is further proven by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, which explains that two kilograms of Fentanyl is enough to kill 500,000 people. Taking any drug “is like playing Russian Roulette,” according to Bird.
The Attorney General concluded her statement to AHS by emphasizing the impact students could have on the future of the Fentanyl Crisis. Bird explained to the students by discussing the importance of reporting instances of any drug usage, particularly if there could be Fentanyl involved. She concluded, “The fact that you say something could be the very thing that saves a person’s life.”
