HENDERSON (KTNV) — Showing students and parents ways to avoid opioids, specifically Fentanyl is the idea behind the City of Henderson's campaign "Risk it All with Fentanyl".
"This time of year, we have homecoming dances, we have midterms and finals," said Henderson Director of Community Development Services Lisa Corrado.
Corrado says creating Fentanyl awareness for middle and high school students is key to fighting it in the community
"Kids might be experimenting because they're stressed and need to study, but in either case, we want them to know what the dangers are," said Corrado.
The Southern Nevada Health District says as little as 2 milligrams of Fentanyl can be deadly and that it can be mixed with other drugs and pressed into counterfeit pills.
"It's just not worth it," said Conrad Mazurkiewicz, who is six months sober after beating cocaine addiction. "Even if you think your life sucks, you have nothing. Just doing that stuff leads to so much more anxiety."
Mazurkiewicz is a senior at Coronado High School in Henderson. He says he chose to stay away from Fentanyl because of how deadly it could be.
"It makes your quality of life so much worse, and it makes you think that you have less than a purpose than you really do," said Mazurkiewicz.
There's a concerning uptick in opioid-related deaths in Clark County. The Southern Nevada Health District reported 330 last year in the county compared to 235 in 2019.
The City of Henderson hopes their campaign, along with the new Clark County Regional Opioid Task Force, will deter opioid use in the county.
