Suzanne Youngkin visits Bayside HS to build support for fentanyl awareness
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — First Lady of the Commonwealth Suzanne Youngkin has a particular passion about warning young people about the dangers of opioids.
"I want to ensure that I'm lending my voice to the most poignant issues at this moment in time," she said during an interview Friday morning at Bayside High School.
Previously: Gov. Youngkin announces fentanyl awareness campaign will be rolled out statewide
She sat side by side with her counterpart, First Lady of New Jersey Tammy Murphy, as they watched a demonstration of Narcan, the opioid overdose reversal drug.
Ashanti Kincannon, a health equity specialist with the Portsmouth Health Department, showed the class how and when to administer Narcan to save a life. The students are part of Bayside's Health Sciences Academy and are thinking about a career in health care.
Youngkin said teens no longer think twice about popping pills.
"We have created a generation that thinks nothing of taking medicine," Youngkin said, "and because of social media, it's just too easy for them to get drugs they don't even know they're taking. ...
"They seek out antidotes, elixirs to make them feel better or feel more comfortable, feel more secure, study better, play harder, avoid pain. And that manifests itself in risky behavior, taking what they think is a Percocet or what they think is an Adderall or a Xanax."
Murphy is a native of Virginia Beach and attended Norfolk Academy for eight years. She said the scourge of fentanyl is too important to worry about partisanship.
"I am a Democrat. Suzanne Youngkin is a Republican. Fentanyl targets everyone," Murphy said. "And it doesn't matter your zip code, it doesn't matter your affluence. It doesn't matter if you have health insurance or you don't have health insurance. This is a real challenge."
Youngkin said she's encouraged by one of Virginia's newest laws. Pill presses, the machines used to insert deadly fentanyl into other pills and tablets, are now illegal in Virginia and a felony offense.
She said the latest data on fentanyl deaths is a mixed bag here in Hampton Roads.
"We're seeing progress in certain communities," Youngkin said. "In Portsmouth, there were 20 fewer fentanyl deaths in 2023. Here in Virginia Beach, we saw numbers go up. Norfolk is still number two behind Richmond in terms of overdose deaths in the Commonwealth."
