NORFOLK, Va. — With opioids and fentanyl contributing to a large increase in overdoses, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares made a special announcement in Norfolk on Tuesday.
He is announcing his "One Pill Can Kill" public awareness initiative on counterfeit drugs.
The campaign aims to generate open and honest conversations about counterfeit drugs and fentanyl, and the danger they pose.
The attorney general was joined by Virginia's First Lady Suzanne S. Youngkin, who spoke about her new “Women & Girls: Wellness” initiative.
“The opioid epidemic has had a devastating effect on our Commonwealth. There isn’t a corner of our state that hasn’t been touched by its pain and destruction. Tragically, overdose deaths are now not limited to addiction, but to counterfeit pills laced with a highly potent, deadly substance - fentanyl,” said Miyares said in a statement. “Unfortunately, we’ve seen too many young people overdose and die after experimenting with these powerful drugs. As a father, this new threat terrifies me. That’s why I launched ‘One Pill Can Kill,’ a public awareness initiative aimed at generating conversations around the dangers of counterfeit drugs and fentanyl.”
After the press conference, the attorney general and the first lady hosted a roundtable discussion with experts to discuss how Virginia can effectively reduce opioid and counterfeit drug deaths.
"It has reached a crisis proportion and so that means we have to do every tool we can to try and attack this scourge," said Miyares during a press conference.
Data from the Virginia Dept. of Health says more than 2,000 people died of fentanyl overdoses in 2021. Miyares says counterfeit drugs, where people think they are taking something else, are also a major problem.
"One of the shocking things we've seen particularly with young people is they actually don't know one pill can kill," said Miyares.
In addition, Miyares says Commonwealth's Attorneys need more tools to go after drug dealers, including the ability to charge them with murder if someone dies after taking drugs sold to them.
That would take legislative action. In 2019, then-Gov. Ralph Northam vetoed legislation passed in the General Assembly that would've allowed for that, saying it could've led to unintended consequences for people struggling with addiction.
"If you're lacing a Flintstone [vitamin] with fentanyl that will kill your subject, you should be charged. That should be a tool for law enforcement and police," said Miyares.
Watch the live announcement below:
