Published: Apr 29, 2025
Watch the video on the CBS News Website.
Porch Light Health’s Steve Carleton spoke with CBS Colorado’s Lauren Whitney on National Fentanyl Awareness Day.
Lauren Whitney
In today’s Health Watch, today is National Fentanyl Awareness Day for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. They say it’s an observance founded by people who have lost loved ones to the drug overdose crisis. However, overdose deaths are on the decline, which is good news, according to new data from the CDC. Overdose deaths went down almost 30% from November 2023 to November 2024. And joining me right now is Steve Carlton, Chief Clinical Officer at Porch Light Health. Thank you so much for being here. My pleasure. I feel like we talk about this a lot in the news, fentanyl overdoses and all sorts of terrible fentanyl news. But what are the goals of Fentanyl Awareness Day?
Steve Carleton
The goals of Fentanyl Awareness Day are we’ve had these massive decreases. This is the biggest decrease we’ve had in five years. So it’s really significant. And the message really is we just have to keep going. We have to continue to supply NARCAN. We have to continue to push harm reduction strategies and quality treatment for people to see these numbers continue to drop.
Lauren Whitney
And it must be so It’s wonderful in your business to see that these numbers are going down because it feels like all we talk about is how it’s just rampant everywhere.
Steve Carleton
When we’re talking about the numbers through October 2024, we’re talking over 300 people’s lives. That’s incredible. That’s a lot of lives saved in the span of one year. It’s pretty great.
Lauren Whitney
Yes. How is Colorado following the national trend with fentanyl?
Steve Carleton
We’re just a little bit below the national average. National average was about 33%, and we were just over 28. We’re ticking along. We’re doing great.
Lauren Whitney
Awesome. That’s good to know. I have little kids, but we always think about, Well, how do you broach? It’s a long ways away from me to talk about this topic, but how do you bring up talking about this and talking about drugs in general? If you suspect that someone might be on drugs or having some fentanyl issues, how is that conversation different? You work in this, so how do we deal with it?
Steve Carleton
I think for parents at home, the thing is, if your kid is out and about socializing, the chances that they might encounter somebody having an overdose are there. Supplying your kids with Narcan and having them take that to parties is a good idea. It’s a good idea because you don’t use Narcan on yourself. You’re going to use that on somebody else. The more hands we can get Narcan into, the more lives we save.
Lauren Whitney
How do you know this sounds maybe a naive question, that maybe someone’s having an issue with fentanyl or that that could be a thing that you need to help with.
Steve Carleton
Really unconsciousness. You’re going to see people unconscious. The great thing about Narcan is even if you give it to somebody and they’re not in an overdose, you’re not going to hurt them. You should still take them to the hospital after you’ve administered NARCAN, but you’re not going to hurt them giving them that medication.
Lauren Whitney
That is if something maybe fentanyl is mixed in with something they’re taking and maybe they’re recreationally using something But this time it’s different, and you might notice some changes.
Steve Carleton
Exactly. We saw that story in Colorado at CU where we thought those students had overdosed on fentanyl, and really, they were just really, really intoxicated. They used NARCAN on them. It didn’t hurt them.
Lauren Whitney
Okay, that’s good to know. How can we help with all of this? Then, of course, where can we get more information? I feel like this is such a hot topic right now.
Steve Carleton
Portsighthealth. Com. We have a lot of information on our website. That’s a great place to look. I think the biggest message is we just have to continue to reduce stigma around medications for addiction treatment as well. Medications for fentanyl addiction are the best treatment. That is the best outcomes we have. And so supporting people if they Suboxone is another great thing.
Lauren Whitney
Okay. And then this may, because I’m not as familiar with all this, but people don’t just take fentanyl. Do people take fentanyl directly, or is it that they’re getting drugs where it’s mixed in or both?
Steve Carleton
The drug supply I realized always changing. For a long time, it was counterfeit Oxy pills, right? These pills that they were manufacturing to look like the real thing. Now there is straight fentanyl on the streets. I think people using on the streets have gotten a little bit wiser about how they use this and have a different level of respect for it. I think people are trying to do this in a less harmful, dangerous way.
Lauren Whitney
But it is still incredibly dangerous. Incredibly dangerous. Awesome. Steve, thank you so much for being here and shedding a little bit of light on this. We appreciate all the information. Head to cbscolorado.com for more information about all of this.
