JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — How much does your child know about a drug 100 times more powerful than morphine?
That drug is fentanyl and according to a Florida nonprofit's survey, most Florida students have not been talked to about it at school.
On Wednesday the nonprofit Incubate Debate hosts its first assembly about fentanyl in northeast Florida at Andrew Jackson High School.
Fentanyl is blamed for most overdoses and more than twice as many as meth in 2021, according to the CDC.
Jacksonville Sheriff's Office officials say they responded to nearly 500 overdose deaths in 2022, which is 15 percent higher than the year before.
Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine, according to the National Institutes of Health.
But how much to students know about it?
James Fishback, founder of Incubate Debate, says they surveyed more than 300 students across Florida and found seven in 10 students did not have someone at their school talk to them about fentanyl. Fishback says their approach to educate students is to "show, don't tell," meet students where they are, like on Instagram and at school, and make sure students don't know what the assembly they're going to is about so they don't bring preconceived notions.
"We open with two translucent glasses in front of the whole auditorium," Fishback said. "And we pour bleach in one and water in the other and kind of behind the scenes where we're moving the moving the glasses so you don't know which is which. And then we ask a random student if they would take a sip of this. Of course they wouldn't and that allows us to pivot into this conversation about fentanyl."
First Coast News asked officials with Duval County Public Schools about their drug education curriculum. Their public relations team says middle and high school health classes each have five lessons on alcohol, tobacco and other drugs and at least one lesson in those units includes fentanyl.
They say Duval Schools also partners with Drug Free Duval to provide professional development for teachers and offers Parent Academy Courses. The next Parent Academy session on fentanyl is scheduled for April 27 at 6:00 p.m.
Fishback says their approach is different from something like the DARE program that may come to mind when you think about drug education. They also say it's important to teach all students, rather than hosting lessons that people can choose to come to. Fishback says those who may really need the lesson may not have the option to take off work or take a bus to get to an event.
"Our conversations that we've had with kids is that they're really skeptical when adults talk to them about drugs," Fishback said. "So we want to start on a blank slate. We want kids to come in have no idea and use the element of surprise to keep them engaged on an issue that will literally save their lives."
Incubate Debate's fentanyl education initiative is called Not Even Once. They're encouraging students to share their Instagram posts about NEO.