Gov. Greg Abbott gave the keynote speech during the Soles 4 Souls Fentanyl Awareness Walk in San Antonio on Saturday to honor fentanyl victims and awareness advocates.
Abbott addressed more than 200 advocates, families, community members, and officials during his speech.
He said that on his office desk at the Capitol, he has a photograph of Danica Kaprosy, a 17-year-old who died from a fentanyl overdose in 2022.
“It reminds me of the stakes we face in this fight against the fentanyl crisis. Although we cannot bring her or the thousands of other people back who have fallen victim to this drug, we can work together to ensure this does not happen to more Texas families,” he said, per the Office of the Texas Governor.
“Thank you all for being here tonight to honor those we have lost, but to also spread awareness so that we can save more Texans from the dangers of this deadly drug. Thanks to the work by brave parents and loved ones like those of you here today, we are making Texans aware of this terrible crisis.”
Fentanyl-related deaths in Texas have increased sharply since 2019. In 2020, 891 deaths due to fentanyl were reported. That number rose to 1,645 in 2021 and to 2,189 in 2022, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The percentage of drug poisoning deaths attributed to fentanyl also continues to climb, with 44.48% of all drug deaths in the state coming from fentanyl in 2022.
Although the information is only current as of August 25, fentanyl has caused 841 deaths in Texas, accounting for 45.71% of all drug-related deaths in 2023.
Abbott said during his speech that he has already taken action to combat this growing crisis and will continue to do more in the future.
“I signed new laws to educate young Texans about the dangers of fentanyl,” he said, per KVUE.
“I signed laws to provide life-saving Narcan to colleges, law enforcement in schools across the state. … I signed laws to classify fentanyl deaths as poisonings.”
Abbott signed four new bills into law during the 88th legislative session intended to combat the growing number of fentanyl-related deaths in Texas.
House Bill 6 states that a fentanyl supplier can now face a criminal murder charge if the person they gave the drug to dies due to consumption of the drug.
Another bill, House Bill 3144, aims to raise awareness for the issue and establishes October as “Fentanyl Poisoning Awareness Month.”
House Bill 3908, known as Tucker’s Law, states that all public schools must provide instruction on fentanyl abuse prevention to grades 6 through 12, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Finally, Senate Bill 867 legalizes the distribution of opioid antagonists to Texas colleges and universities to reduce or reverse the effects of opioid poisoning.