Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana created a series of educational videos to raise awareness and understanding of the inherent and often hidden dangers of illicit fentanyl. The videos are free for use.

These videos tell the stories of two Baton Rouge area residents who died from overdosing on drugs laced with fentanyl. In 2022, 210 people died in each day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl.

"Opioid addiction oftentimes starts with a legitimate prescription. So you had a knee surgery ... [and] were prescribed pain medication to help you with that acute injury. And some people are just genetically predisposed to addiction more than others. And so just a couple of doses and then they can become addicted to the medication."
- Brice Mohundro, Pharmacy Population Health

 

"She told me she was gonna go to the sober house and check on him. And I asked her not to because if something had happened to him, I didn't want her to be the one to find him."
- Alex's mother

“And I said, what I can do is I can love you and I can pray for you until the end of my days. And she hung up on me. Every morning, I checked the parish prison website, and when I saw that my daughter was still in jail, I went about my day. I was at peace. At the very least, she was okay or better than the alternative.”
- Victoria's mother

“People used to worry about illegal drugs but today, drug abuse typically starts in the home medicine cabinet,” said Kandyce Cowart, Blue Cross Special Investigations manager. “With the added danger of what appear to be prescription or other drugs potentially laced with fentanyl, people may not know what they are really taking. Their first time trying a drug could be the last time because of overdose and death.”

Our community, our country is experiencing a crisis. According to Cowart, we're not winning the war on drugs. “We're losing the war on drugs every day. More and more people in our community and all across our entire country are dying from fentanyl poisonings.”

Blue Cross, as part of our mission to improve the health and lives of Louisianians, encourages schools, youth groups, community organizations, workplaces, parents, teachers, leaders and anyone else interested to view these videos and share them with others.

These posters, created by Blue Cross, are available to the public to download and print. Click each poster to download a high-res version.