UPPER PENINSULA, Mich. (WBUP/WJMN) — The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is encouraging parents and caregivers to talk to their kids about drug dangers as they return to school.
The back-to-school safety reminders are a part of the DEA’s Fentanyl Free America efforts, which focuses on disrupting the fentanyl supply chain.
“Fentanyl Free America is the DEA’s commitment to protect the United States from opiates by disrupting the fentanyl supply chain and reducing its availability. But more so, it’s important because it’s our commitment to the American people that we’re going to save American lives,” said Joseph Dixon, special agent in charge with the DEA Detroit Division. “We’re going to protect American lives and we’re going to do that from the front lines with our federal, state, county, local and tribal partners.”
Dixon explained some of the recent surge operations the Detroit Division has carried out, which covers the entirety of Michigan and Ohio along with northern Kentucky. DEA and law enforcement counterparts were able to recover 17 kilograms of fentanyl – approximately 8.5 million daily doses.
“8.5 million potential daily doses would be literally everyone in the state of Michigan and including our surrounding states, 2,500 counterfeit prescription pills, 142 guns, and those lethal instruments have been removed from our community. That’s a big deal. That’s driving down the violence all throughout the state of Michigan,” Dixon shared. “We had $2.6 million in illicit proceeds that we took from drug trafficking organizations, and we made 176 arrests. Those arrests were very impactful arrests in our communities including in the Upper Peninsula and the northern Michigan area as well.”
Part of helping to keep fentanyl out of Michigan communities includes having conversations surrounding drug use. Dixon shared that if you suspect fentanyl in your community, you should call your local authorities but also make sure to have conversations on the subject with the children in your life.
“I say the first step is contact your local authorities, whether it be the state police, whether it be the sheriff’s office, whether it be the city police or the tribal police, or go to dea.gov and submit a tip and provide that information to the DEA and we will conduct further investigation. But, before we even get to that point, I’d recommend for people to have a conversation,” he included.
The DEA provides information and tips on how to hold drug-related conversations with children of varying ages on their website.
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