Health workers and police have been warning about fentanyl for some time now. The concern ratcheted up a few more degrees in early April, when police calls, medical emergencies, and fatalities involving fentanyl rose quickly.
That promptedJackson County Health and Human Services to issue a public health alert about the drug. One of the issues with fentanyl, beyond its large damage from small doses, is that it is often disguised as other drugs, or mixed in with them.
Tanya Phillips is Health Promotion Program Manager for the county. She talks to us about the incidents that prompted the alert, and the public reception to it.