Kansas City teens join in the fight against fentanyl

By Nathan Brennan

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    KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KCTV) — High school students in the Northland are helping city officials brainstorm ways to get drugs off the streets.

Many students met with Mayor Quinton Lucas to have a conversation about reducing opioid overdoses.

Students traveled to homeless shelters, group homes, and detention centers to spread awareness and let people know about addiction resources in Kansas City.

The information they gathered during these visits was presented to the mayor at North Kansas City Hospital on Wednesday morning.

“I think now especially teenagers are trying to ignore the fact that we are in a crisis,” Park Hill junior, Brooklyn Bronston-Byrd said. “We’re trying to find ways that more people can acknowledge there’s a problem and find ways to fix it and spread education.”

Mayor Lucas said efforts for the city will be focused on education, getting out in the streets, and delivering the message that one pill can kill.

“Every life, every death that we can prevent is something that I think we are here to do,” Lucas said.

Over 100,000 people died from a preventable overdose in 2022, according to the National Safety Council. Over 400 of those lives were residents in the Kansas City metro.

Since April 2022, North Kansas City Hospital has given out more than 1,700 NARCAN kits.

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