Sandoval County hosts information sessions during Fentanyl Awareness Week

Sandoval County hosted three information sessions on Oct. 24 as part of Fentanyl Awareness Week.

All three sessions were in the commission chambers at the County Administration Building. Sandoval County joined Bernalillo County, the city of Albuquerque, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the New Mexico Department of Health, local law enforcement, numerous health and addiction treatment organizations and others to help educate, equip and empower the public in the fight against fentanyl.

“We are committed to informing our community about this deadly drug epidemic that has a strong presence in New Mexico,” Sandoval County Manager Wayne Johnson said. “This lab-produced opioid, described as 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, affects abusers, their families, friends, co-workers and the general public. The more that we can share with our residents about this drug and the help available, the better we can work together to protect our community.”

Fentanyl Awareness Week began on Oct. 22 with a movie screening of “All the World is Sleeping” at the Hiland Theater in Albuquerque followed by a community discussion. The free-of-charge information sessions began the next day and ran through Oct. 30 at four locations in Bernalillo County and Sandoval County.

The topics offered in Sandoval County were:

• Navigating Treatment Services
• Helping Family Members with Addictions
• Peer Support, the Gift of Perspective

“Mr. Johnson, I want to thank you and the staff for putting together the Fentanyl Awareness Week,” County Commissioner Jay Block said at the Oct. 25 County Commission meeting. “It’s such an important issue, not just in the country, but in the state of New Mexico. The leading cause of death, some of you may not know this, for Americans the age of 18-44 is drug overdose, and we’re setting new records every year with all this stuff coming through the southern border. I talked to a couple of people who left the session yesterday or the day before yesterday, and they absolutely loved it.”