Nonprofit, health care, school and law enforcement officials in Routt County will continue community education efforts with a “Fentanyl Education and Crisis Prevention Event” at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 10, at the gymnatorium at Hayden High School.

Parents and community members are encouraged to attend this collaborative prevention event that hopes to educate about the deadly fentanyl drug crisis and why this is vital information for the local community. At least two Routt County high school graduates have died from fentanyl related overdose or unintentional poisoning in recent years, according to their parents and law enforcement officials.

Organizers said attendees will walk away from the event with “powerful knowledge, tools that can save lives and tangible resources to be part of the solution.”

Educators also will present about the deadly fentanyl crisis to students in Hayden from sixth graders to seniors on Monday, May 9. The school and public presentations follow similar education efforts at Steamboat Springs High School in April.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fentanyl exposure led to the death of 903 people in Colorado in 2021, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment database.