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0 YAwrry"w� e&44 <br />INDEPENDENCE COUNTY, ARKANSAS <br />Independence County Hometown Wellness Coalition to perform a Call to Action and observe <br />May 9`h as National Fentanyl Awareness Day. <br />WHEREAS: The fentanyl epidemic in the United States is a serious public safety threat, with <br />illicit fentanyl poisoning rates currently reaching the highest level in history and fentanyl <br />poisoning now the number one cause of death among Americans ages 18 to 45; and <br />WHEREAS: Fentanyl is a highly addictive synthetic opioid that is 100 times more potent than <br />morphine. According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), illicit <br />fentanyl is being manufactured with other illicit drugs to increase potency, sold as powders and <br />mixed with other illicit drugs, and is increasingly pressed into counterfeit pills made to look like <br />legitimate pharmaceutical drugs; and <br />WHEREAS: Fentanyl-contaminated drugs are killing people across our nation every day. Drug <br />toxicity deaths have shown a dramatic increase nationally, with illicit fentanyl being the primary <br />reason for the increase. It is becoming more common for individuals to use a pill or other drugs <br />without knowing it contains fentanyl; and <br />WHEREAS: The DEA is seeing a nationwide spike in fentanyl-related mass -poisoning events <br />involving three or more poisonings occurring close in time at the same location. The opioid <br />epidemic is so prominent that the DEA issued its first public safety alert in over six years, <br />seeking to raise awareness of a significant nationwide surge in counterfeit pills; and <br />WHEREAS: Fentanyl is a growing crisis that poses a threat to public health and the well-being <br />of the people of Arkansas. Affected families across the nation are united in bringing prevention <br />and awareness on this day, and Batesville, Arkansas joins their efforts to save lives; and <br />WHEREAS: The Arkansas Department of Human Services provides information about <br />accessing naloxone, the medication also known as Narcan that can reverse opioid overdoses. <br />The Arkansas Department of Health's website also lists Statewide Community -based <br />Organizations that provide Naloxone overdose training and kits for free. There is also a free app <br />available to download NARCANSAS, which provides an opioid overdose resource containing <br />tools that will help someone administer the drug naloxone in the moment of a suspected opioid <br />overdose. <br />NOW, THEREFORE, I, Rick Elumbaugh, Mayor of Batesville, do hereby proclaim Tuesday, <br />May 9th as call to action: NATIONAL FENTANYL AWARENESS DAY <br />"4/ cl.,1w ki't % a4�6x <br />