On Aug. 31, 2020, we launched our latest public education campaign – Fentanyl: The Deadliest High. We chose this topic because our offices are all too aware of how this drug is destroying the communities we know, love and serve. And worse, fentanyl is on the rise both locally and nationally. Between 2015 and 2021, deaths from fentanyl in Tennessee increased by 1518%. Nationally, the number of fentanyl-related deaths has increased 22-fold from 2013 to 2021.

We refuse to sit by while this drug ravages our communities. Our target audience for this campaign is teenagers, ages 13–18, and we were thrilled to include them in the planning process. Our District Attorneys traveled across the state to conduct 15 in-person focus groups and spoke to over 160 middle and high school students. We made sure their voices and feedback were our primary inspiration for the direction and content of this campaign.