ICYMI: Senator Marshall Discusses Fentanyl Awareness Campaign on WIBW: We’re So Much Better When We Work Together

Topeka, KS – U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. appeared on WIBW to discuss his ongoing statewide #OnePillCanKill Fentanyl Awareness Campaign, featuring every Kansas federal delegation member and a coalition of diverse Kansas voices. 

All this week, the campaign is focusing on raising awareness about the dangers of illicit fentanyl and its presence in communities across Kansas. The coalition includes law enforcement, educators, members of the state legislature, and health care groups and beyond. Senator Marshall also shared the story of Cooper Davis, a young Kansas teen who lost his life after taking a fentanyl-laced Percocet purchased on social media, and discussed the legislation he is working on named in Cooper’s honor.

More information about Senator Marshall’s Fentanyl Awareness Campaign, along with live updates can be found at Marshall.Senate.Gov/fentanyl-awareness. 

You may click HERE or on the image above to watch Senator Marshall’s full interview.

Highlights from Senator Marshall’s interview include: 

On Senator Marshall’s Statewide #OnePillCanKill Fentanyl Awareness Campaign: 

“Every day we lose a Kansan from fentanyl poisoning. That one pill of fentanyl can kill a person. So as I’ve heard that story repeat itself over and over again, I said, ‘when the kids are going back to school this year, let’s launch a fentanyl awareness campaign.’ So we’re trying to get that message out toevery corner of the state. The entire Kansas federal delegation is helping us. We have over 100 organizations across the state, everything from health departments to the KBI doctor’s offices, nurse’s office, everyone getting this word out that one pill can kill.”

“Fentanyl poisoning is the number one killer of young adults across America. So this is now impacting every community.”

“It’s easier to get fentanyl than it is a slice of pizza right now. So I think that everyone across the state feels the enormity of the problem, and it’s touching every community. So we have this opportunity to get all our voices together, we’re so much better when we work together.”

“I think as kids go back to school, I think they’re especially vulnerable. And I think that there’s also an opportunity for teachers and coaches and parents to kind of seize the moment and say, ‘okay, wait a second. As our kids are going back to school, we want to make sure they’re able to finish it.’” 

“Fentanyl doesn’t care who you are, where you are, what your last name is, what your parents do. Nobody’s immune from this problem.”

On the Cooper Davis Act, Legislation Named After a Young Kansas Teen Who Lost His Life to Fentanyl:

“The Cooper Davis bill is named for a wonderful young man who lost his life to fentanyl. He and his friends ordered two fentanyl tablets through Snapchat. Cooper Davis took one half of one tablet and died. So what our legislation does is force social media to proactively cooperate with police, with law enforcement when they see something like that going online.”

“It passed overwhelmingly out of committee. This is a bipartisan bill. Senator Dick Durbin from Illinois, the Democrat whip, is co-sponsoring the bill. So we hope that we can get that to the floor. We hope the house is able to do something with it and get it to the President’s desk.”

On the Fentanyl Epidemic in Kansas:

“Many of these acts are accidental poisoning where somebody is ordering say a Xanax tablet or a Percocet tablet, they’re even lacing marijuana with the fentanyl as well.” 

“We’re starting to come out of this opioid crisis as fentanyl is 50 times more powerful than opioids. So if a person that’s addicted to opioids, if they’re used to taking 10 Percocet tablets to get high, so to speak, if they just take one half of one of these tablets that will probably kill them as well.”

“Oftentimes they don’t know what’s there. That the cartel unfortunately is alive and well across the state of Kansas and they print their own pills. So they print pills that look like Percocet tablets, but for whatever reason they’re lacing them with fentanyl.”

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