By Ally McCabe, Project Director, CANDLE Coalition & Sara Watrous, Project Director, CACTC HEALing Communities Study

On Tuesday, May 9th, local opioid overdose reduction coalition Healing Cortland organized our county’s participation in the second annual National Fentanyl Awareness Day. ATI, CANDLE, and other local community agencies joined a broad coalition of nonprofit organizations, corporations, government agencies and schools to raise awareness and conduct street outreach around the dangers of fentanyl.

Fentanyl Awareness Day is designed to raise awareness about the presence of illicit fentanyl in the illicit drug supply. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid which is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. Pharmaceutical-grade fentanyl is used in medical settings to help relieve pain, but fentanyl is also manufactured illicitly. Contamination of street drugs with illegally made fentanyl is the primary driver of the recent increase in overdose deaths.

Healing Cortland staff and community volunteers offered Narcan trainings, handed out fentanyl & xylazine test strips, and provided information about safer use and local resources.

Thank you to Healing Cortland for organizing, and to Southern Tier AIDS Program, Inc., Family & Children’s Counseling Services, Catholic Charities of Cortland County, and other volunteers for making this important day of action a success!