On National Fentanyl Awareness Day, counselor shares importance of awareness
GREENSBURG, Pa. (KDKA) — Tuesday is National Fentanyl Awareness Day.
The federal government designated May 10 as a day to focus on the dangers of the highly addictive drug that is killing Americans and destroying families.
Joey Pagano has battled addiction and the impacts of fentanyl in his own life. He has dedicated his life to saving others in the same situation.
Fentanyl was responsible for 66 percent of the nearly 107,000 people who died from an overdose last year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said drug dealers are mixing more and more fentanyl in everything from bogus pills to cocaine.
For those who have never battled addiction, it is hard to grasp how powerful fentanyl is. Pagano, a counselor and social worker employed by Southwestern Pennsylvania Human Services, knows from experience.
"You are willing to risk it no matter what the consequence is, no matter how many overdoses," he said. "Addition takes all, and everybody suffers."
His job is to help save others from addiction and death. Pagano said he overdosed "four or five times from fentanyl," but he survived. He said the chemical can take more than just one person's life.
"It might be the one person who uses the substance, but it's the whole family that suffers. Some of those children turn to the same substance they've lost their parents to," he said.
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