'Say no to Fentanyl' campaign ready to roll out at all 62 Miami-Dade high schools
MIAMI - The Miami-Dade County School District is rolling out its "Say no to Fentanyl" campaign.
"We're here to tell you if you have an unprescribed pill you'll die and you'll ruin not just your own life but your mother's, your father's, family, friends and siblings," said Gregory Swan.
He's co-founder of the group "Fentanyl Fathers." They will lead student assemblies at all 62 Miami-Dade high schools. He knows first-hand the deadly consequences of Fentanyl.
"Our son, Drew was staying at a halfway house. He got an unprescribed pill from his roommate, he thought it was Methadone, he, unfortunately, was poisoned," Swan said.
The latest numbers from the FDLE show 2,744 people in Florida died from fentanyl in the first half of 2022. That includes 117 in the Miami area and another 264 in Broward.
"We say together at the end of the assembly, 'I'll never try, so I'll never die from fentanyl.' We tell them it may sound cheesy but you need to hear yourself say that," Swan said.
Stella McLaney is a Miami-Dade high school senior. She's part of a student group that gets the message out to teens.
She operates a website and posts on social media about the dangers of Fentanyl, warning students drugs from the street could be laced with a deadly dose. "If you're feeling stress, if you feel like you need a pill, doctors can prescribe that for you, get it from a pharmacy. We want out message to be, 'If it didn't come from a pharmacy, it's not safe.'
Every Miami-Dade high school will have one of these assemblies either this school year or next. The first one is set for Monday.
