The fentanyl crisis is gaining momentum daily and parents are desperate to keep their children safe. In Frisco, school district leaders and administrators are doing their part to combat the problem.
Thursday night, their doors were open for an honest town hall conversation about the deadly drug sweeping the community.
Shannon White, the executive director of GraceToChange and outpatient substance abuse center, had an attentive audience in Frisco and she was sure to seize the opportunity. White has worked in substance abuse for the past 15 years and said she’s never seen anything like fentanyl.
“This is one that’s just going to perpetuate and get worse because it is so readily accessible and inexpensive,” she said. “So, I think we haven’t seen even the tip of the iceberg with this unfortunately.”
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White was one of four panelists invited to the town hall hosted by Frisco ISD. The panel also included a sergeant with the Frisco Police Department, the City of Frisco Medical Director, as well personnel with Frisco ISD Guidance and Counseling.
If parents and their children left the discussion afraid, they had good reason. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid found largely in counterfeit pills. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, it is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.
Gayle Meeks lost her 24-year-old son T.J. to fentanyl less than a year ago.
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“I didn’t even know anything about fentanyl until my son’s death,” she said.
She said the difficult conversation is no longer an option, and that parents must stress the importance of not taking pills from friends or off the streets.
It’s why she’s pleased when people attend meetings and leave with Narcan – the lifesaving medication used to reverse an opioid overdose. Even with Narcan available and encouraged, the problem is pervasive.
According to data presented at the town hall, the Collin County Sheriff's Office reported a more than 800% increase in fentanyl overdoses since 2018.
The panelists said the message is straightforward – one pill can kill.
“Back in the day, marijuana or alcohol was what you experimented with, and you got really high and ate a lot, or really drunk and you got a hangover,” White said. “You literally can take half a pill and it kills you on the spot.”
School administrators, law enforcement, and health workers say it’s going to take the community to combat the problem. For the past three years, Frisco ISD school resource officers have made it protocol to carry Narcan while on duty.
For information on fentanyl visit the National Institute on Drug Abuse online.
For help with substance abuse visit the Substances Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration or click here to learn more about GraceToChange.
