DELAWARE- Fentanyl continues to plague communities across the country, including here on Delmarva.
A fourteen percent increase in overdose deaths in Delaware from 2020 to 2021 prompted the Division of Public Health (DPH) to launch a new awareness campaign targeted at young people.
According to the Division of Forensic Science, out of the 515 overdose deaths in the state last year, more than eighty percent of them have been due to fentanyl.
DPH has one message for young people: If you get your drugs from a direct message (DM) and not a doctor, odds are they're laced with fentanyl. Just a trace could blow up your life.
Dover police officers tell us this is no exaggeration.
According to Nathaniel Weir, who works in the behavioral health unit at Dover PD "fentanyl has been popping up on everything as far as when we get drug screenings back so for every recreational drug user at some point they've touched fentanyl."
DPH officials say the campaign will target people from ages 14 to 25 through social media apps like Tik-Tok and Snapchat.
Kate Brookins of DPH says regular drug users may have built up a tolerance to fentanyl, but younger people are more likely to overdose from even the smallest amount.
"We specifically are focused on youth who think they are invincible," said Brookins. "Those who experiment and do occasional drug use such as college students buying Adderall from a friend or on the street who may accidentally overdose because the drugs they are experimenting with are laced."
According to DPH, fentanyl is now the leading cause of death in Americans ages 18 to 45.
The awareness campaign will also include some traditional messaging such as billboards in all three Delaware counties.