Milan officials invite community to fentanyl awareness event

MILAN, Tenn. — Milan’s alderman and Milan’s chief of police invited residents to come learn about fentanyl and the dangers it brings when consumed.

“So we are wanting to make our young people aware of what’s out there and how potent it is and how it affects us,” said Tammy Wade, Milan’s City Alderman.

Wade helped to make this event possible.

Wade says May 7th was Fentanyl Awareness Day and she wanted to help offer resources to those who may struggle or knows someone who abuses drugs.

“All these vendors are here to provide any type of resources. We also have HIV testing and information. We just want to be proactive and provide all the resources for all the individuals and let them know that there are a lot of resources available,” said Wade.

An overall concern was stopping the use of fentanyl before it gets popular in their community.

“It kinda helps us to be prepared for when those trends do come to Milan. Helps us to prepare a little bit more and kind of share with our citizens and leaders here in Milan about what they see and what they’re seeing and how dangerous fentanyl is,” said Bobby Sellers, Chief for Milan Police Department.

Director of the West Tennessee Drug Task Force, Johnnie Carter, says this drug is overwhelmingly dangerous because of how it’s made.

“Its being manufactured in basements and warehouses all over, you know foreign countries and brought in here. So there’s no telling, one pill could have no fentanyl in it and one pill could be almost all fentanyl and you don’t know until you take it. And sometimes that’s too late because its mixed with a lot of things that don’t react with Narcan,” said Carter.

Although Narcan has become more widely accessible, it still may not be enough to save a life.

“It’s almost like a bullet it, it doesn’t have a name on it. It doesn’t matter who you are how much education you have or don’t have, if you take it eventually it’s gonna get you,” said Carter.

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