ARLINGTON COUNTY, Va. — The Arlington Addiction Recovery Initiative hosted their monthly in-person and virtual Narcan, a brand of naloxone, training Wednesday night.
Close to 70 people participated in the in-person training, according to Emily Siqveland, the opioids program manager for Arlington County. She says fentanyl overdoses are a growing problem across the entire country.
"These pills are pressed pills and look exactly like the real thing and they are counterfeit and have a potentially fatal dose of fentanyl in them. They are advertised to be Percocet, Xanax, Adderall," explained Siqveland.
On Tuesday, Arlington County Police announced that they had arrested a 19-year-old man and a juvenile in connection to a fentanyl overdose investigation at Wakefield High School. The pair are believed to have supplied drugs to two girls at the school who overdosed and then were revived.
At 11:45 a.m. on Sept. 27, officers were dispatched to the high school on S. Dinwiddie Street for a report of an overdose. At the school, officers located two students who were suffering from an apparent fentanyl overdose. One girl was given a dose of Narcan, and both were taken to an area hospital for treatment. Both girls have since recovered.
As of September 28, data from Arlington County shows opioid overdoses are actually down this year, compared to last year. So far this year, there have been 17 fatal opioid overdoses across the county and 37 non-fatal overdoses.
"We know many of the overdoses that are happening and people are alive because they were revived with Narcan and it's so important to get it into everyone's hands for that reason," said Siqveland.
"Fentanyl's the devil it killed my dad and killed my best friend," said Katie Brown.
She told WUSA9 she was walking by when she saw the Narcan training event and knew she had to stop.
"I had the kindest nicest father on the planet and someone laced a Vicodin with fentanyl and killed him," said Brown.
She told WUSA9 she wished more people would get the training.
"If my father had Narcan he'd be alive," said Brown.
Siqveland told WUSA9 they were happy to see such a good turnout to the event, and hope more people will continue to get the training.
"Carrying Narcan does not mean that you suffer from addiction or if you do that there's anything wrong with you. It is a safe medication that allows us to save lives and all of us have a responsibility to save lives," she said.
To learn more about the free training that's held monthly or to request a free package of Narcan, click here.