Say the F-Word with DOITFORJACK

You’ve probably seen the blood-red billboards looming over Cincinnati’s highways: “SAY THE F-WORD. FENTANYL!”

Eye-catching? Yes. Provocative? Definitely. But it’s provocation with a purpose, because fentanyl is everybody’s problem.

It’s easy to think, “I’m not a drug addict. Neither are my kids, so I don’t have to worry about fentanyl,” but that’s a dangerously false sense of security. Anyone who dabbles in recreational drugs is at risk because polydrug mixtures—drugs made up of more than one substance—have become the norm. There’s no such thing as a “pure” recreational drug anymore. As little as two milligrams of fentanyl is enough to kill, so a twenty-year-olds trying what they think is cocaine at a party could unknowingly be snorting a deadly cocaine/fentanyl mix. It’s no longer safe to experiment. Not even once.

People who buy what they think are genuine prescription pills via social media ads or on fake “pharmacy” websites designed to look legitimate are also in danger. Is your teen struggling with mental health and looking for Xanax online? Think you found a site where you can buy your weight-loss pills for cheap? You both could be buying counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl, and you both could end up dead.

Increasingly, drug traffickers are changing the chemical structure of existing drugs to create new ones in order to evade law enforcement. These new drugs are just as deadly as fentanyl and, in some cases, are even worse. In the last year alone, the DEA identified more than 50 new illicit synthetic drugs.

That’s why DOITFORJACK wants you to say the f-word to your family, friends, and co-workers. Drug traffickers aren’t going to stop, ever. It’s up to us to warn everyone that it’s not safe to experiment with any recreational drugs, and that you can’t trust a pill unless it was prescribed by your doctor and filled at a name-brand pharmacy, such as Walgreens, Rite-Aid, and the like.

Stephanie and Tom Quehl, who founded DOITFORJACK, lost their son to fentanyl poisoning. They didn’t know about the dangers of fentanyl lacing. Neither did he, and one bad decision cost him his life. Don’t lose your Jack—say the f-word.

Tracy Vonder Brink is a freelance writer who lives in Loveland, Ohio. She joined the Jack Quehl Foundation to help DOITFORJACK save lives.