CLARKSBURG, Md. — It’s an issue urgent enough to call not just students, but whole families, to school on a Saturday.
As parents, community members, and school officials grow increasingly concerned over the rising number of fentanyl overdoses among Montgomery County teenagers, hundreds gathered at the "Family Forum on Fentanyl" at Clarksburg High School Saturday morning.
"So as a teacher and as a parent, I thought that this is really an important thing," said Rachel Maturana, who attended with her daughter Lila.
"I can learn about what drugs do to people and how to prevent them," added Lila, who says she is in a leadership program in her sixth-grade class.
Public health officials have been sounding the alarm over the dangers of fentanyl among young people in recent years.
"It has no socioeconomic status. No color on it. Everyone is being impacted," said Ben Stevenson with the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services.
Just this week, we’ve reported on two overdose cases in Montgomery County Schools.
"This is a problem that's not just within the school boundaries. You know, this is a problem that's happening nationwide. It's happening in the counties. It's happening when kids are outside of our walls," said the district’s medical director, Dr. Patricia Kapunan— who is also a Montgomery County mom.
She says it’s up to everyone who loves a teen to know the risk, learn of resources, and share responsibility.
"We're really excited today to help equip our community with what we're going to do together to approach this problem," she said.
Everyone at the event was trained on and sent home with Narcan, the overdose reversing drug credited with saving 11 Montgomery County students lives so far this school year.
"I just want to hopefully let everybody know how easy it is to administer Narcan, how easy it is to help someone that's experiencing an overdose," said Stevenson. "If we can really prevent them from even going down a path of using at all, I think we're in in a winning position."
Community leaders fielded questions from students and parents— and Dr. Kapunan says that talk could be the most important tool of all.
"Medication safety at home is critically important. But your real superpower is in being able to talk to kids, show your concern and open up those conversations so people can get help when they need it," she said.