DEA recognizes first ever National Fentanyl Awareness Day

Press release

NEW YORK CITY – In an effort to save lives, DEA is proud to join “Song for Charlie” and many of our valued public health, non-profit, and law enforcement partners in recognizing the first ever National Fentanyl Awareness Day. This day is an effort to educate individuals around the dangerous threat that fentanyl poses to the safety, health, and national security of the American people.

To mark National Fentanyl Awareness Day, DEA released a video announcement from DEA Administrator Anne Milgram stressing the dangers of fentanyl and the need for urgent action.

“Fentanyl is killing Americans at unprecedented rates,” said Milgram. “On this first-ever National Fentanyl Awareness Day, please help save lives by making sure you talk with your friends and family about the dangers of this deadly drug.”

DEA New York Division Special Agent in Charge Frank Tarentino III said, “New York City has always been a heroin and cocaine distribution hub for the Northeast, and today is no different with fentanyl. The DEA New York Division is seizing record-breaking amounts of fentanyl, and seizing it in several forms including mixed with other illegal drugs.  This is the most dangerous drug to ever hit the streets of New York and I urge you to start the hard conversation focused on drug use and abuse with your loved ones.” 

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is approximately 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine.  It is inexpensive, widely available, and highly addictive. Drug traffickers are increasingly mixing fentanyl with other illicit drugs—in powder and pill form—to drive addiction and create repeat customers. Many people who are overdosing and dying don’t even know that they are taking fentanyl.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in the United States, nearly 107,000 people died as the result of a drug overdose in the 12-month period ending November 2021. Sixty-six percent of overdose deaths involved synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.

DEA has created a special exhibit for its museum, The Faces of Fentanyl, to commemorate the lives lost from fentanyl poisoning.  If you would like to submit a photo of a loved one lost to fentanyl, please submit their name and photo to fentanylawareness@dea.gov, or post a photo and their name to social media using the hashtag #NationalFentanylAwarenessDay.

For more information on the dangers of fentanyl, visit www.DEA.gov/fentanylawareness.