Teens from anti-drug coalitions across the country attended the Fentanyl Free America Summit in Orlando this week alongside grieving parents and federal law enforcement. Hannah Kahn, 18, explained that fentanyl is not widely recognized as a threat because people are not seeking it out directly but rather it is laced within other drugs. Jasmine Figueroa, 19, had pointed advice for adults on discussing drugs with young people, saying it should not be a taboo topic and that teens will get educated one way or another, so adults might as well educate them first and tell them the truth.
This year's summit welcomed the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as a partner. DEA Administrator Terrance Cole spent time with victim families and explained that the poison is being manufactured and distributed out of Mexico by the Mexican cartels.
Cole pointed to new tools from the current administration, stating that President Trump designated Mexican cartels as foreign terrorists, which opens different avenues for targeting. Mari Rodriguez's daughter, Imam, died of fentanyl poisoning in 2023 after buying a Percocet pill that had fentanyl in it. Rodriguez said the fight should have started in 2009, when the first fentanyl was found on streets. While deaths from the synthetic opioid are down, tracking how widespread fentanyl has become is nearly impossible in part because of Narcan, an over-the-counter nasal spray that is increasing survival rates.