• Slug: Audio-Fentanyl Awareness. Runtime: 1:16.
• By Conor McGill.
• Downloadable audio here. (Note: Some web browsers may not support media download)

HOST INTRO:

FENTANYL IS KNOWN TO BE A DEADLY DRUG. …IT CAN BE 80 TIMES AS POTENT AS MORPHINE AND HUNDREDS OF TIMES MORE POTENT THAN HEROIN ACCORDING TO THE CDC. CRONKITE NEWS’ CONOR MCGILL REPORTS ON A NEW STUDY THAT FINDS ARIZONA YOUTH AREN’T AWARE OF THE DANGERS OF FENTANYL. ARIZONA YOUTH AREN’T AWARE OF THE DANGERS OF FENTANYL.
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“He died at 16. And he is always going to be gone and I will always love him.”
THAT’S SHARI DUKES. SHE LOST HER SON TO FENTANYL IN 2018. AND SHE WANTS TO PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING TO OTHER FAMILIES.

“Fentanyl kills. The one pill kill routine doesn’t work for me. One pill killed my son. And that’s what I want people to know.”

OVERALL, DRUG USE IS DOWN AMONG ARIZONA YOUTH. BUT A NEW SURVEY SHOWS DRUG AWARENESS, IN PARTICULAR FENTANYL IS FAIRLY LOW. ANDREW LEFEVRE IS THE ARIZONA CRIMINAL JUSTICE COMMISION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR HE SAYS ONLY ABOUT 60% OF EIGHTH GRADERS THOUGHT THERE’S GREAT RISK TO USING FENTANYL.

“THAT TO ME ANOTHER GAP OF KNOWLEDGE WHEN FORTY PERCENT OF EIGHTH GRADERS DON’T THINK THERE’S A GREAT RISK IN FENTANYL.

ANOTHER STATISTIC SHOWS THAT IN THE PAST TWELVE MONTHS ABOUT 17-PERCENT OF STUDENTS TALKED ABOUT THE DANGERS OF FENTANYL WITH THEIR PARENTS. DUKES WANTS MORE TO BE DONE.

“So when you are talking with your children, you gotta be open, you gotta think that this may be the last conversation I have with them and I don’t want this to be it.”

THE ARIZONA CRIMINAL JUSTICE COMMISSION AND THE ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY DID THE SURVEY. THIS IS THE FIRST YEAR THEY’VE GATHERED DATA ON FENTANYL.

CONOR MCGILL, CRONKITE NEWS.