The DEA says fentanyl is the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered.
And our area is not immune to this drug threat.
Law enforcement and drug education experts are sounding the same warnings: fentanyl is here and the crisis is getting worse.
In a packed Fairhope high school gymnasium Tuesday night, police told parents, If we don't get through to our kids about how serious this drug is and how the number of people overdosing on synthetic opioids continues to rise daily...we may not have another generation around to have a conversation with.
They say just one pill can kill.
According to the National Safety Council, the fentanyl category of opioids accounted for over 67 thousand preventable deaths in 2021.
The National Institute of Health says for the same year, deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone, primarily fentanyl, continued to rise with over 70 thousand overdose deaths.
And these harmful drugs are actively getting into our community.
According to the Mobile County Sheriff's Office Narcotics division, they seized over 36 grams of fentanyl on Monday alone.
For reference just one kilogram of fentanyl, according to the DEA, has the potential to kill 500 thousand people.
Local drug officials as well as educators are concerned that harmful drugs could get inside of schools.
"It's terrifying because you have no idea. It could be in candy," said Haley Beason, Director of The Landing, a long-term sober living facility.
"We have the fentanyl crisis that is just killing too many of our young adults," said Virginia Guy of the Drug Education Council.
Mike Reese is a retired lieutenant with the ABC Board of Alabama.
Mike knows what drugs can do to a family... he lost a son to drugs more than 20 years ago.
He says today it's fentanyl, yesterday it was crack...no telling what it could be tomorrow.
"it's always something and there's always been something out there. The drugs have changed," said Reese.
But what we have to do as parents is not ignore it, whatever it is.
"Peer pressure is so strong. We have to teach them to be strong enough to walk away from it. Know how dangerous it is that one pill can kill you," said Reese.
Reese says keeping the line of communication open is vital, especially as the world continues to change.