AG Miyares launches ‘One Pill Can Kill’ public awareness campaign

NORFOLK, Va. (WDBJ) - Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares is launching a public awareness campaign to deliver a stark warning about the dangers of fentanyl, counterfeit drugs and opioids.

The message: ‘One Pill Can Kill.’

Miyares introduced the 30-second public service announcement during a news conference with Virginia’s First Lady Suzanne Youngkin Tuesday morning.

The spot will air on radio and television stations across the state for the next 60 days.

“We all play a role in building safe and healthy futures for ourselves and our children,” Miyares says in the television ad. “So do your part. Be their protector, because one pill can kill.”

The fight against opioid abuse has many fronts, including the prosecution of drug dealers and lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies that helped to fuel the opioid epidemic.

The Attorney General’s latest initiative is about raising public awareness, making sure Virginians know about the flow of counterfeit drugs and powerful narcotics that are taking lives.

“Thanksgiving should be a time of joy, but for so many Virginia families, there is going to be an empty chair at Thanksgiving this year, because they’ve lost a loved one,” Miyares told WDBJ7 in an interview after the news conference. “Four Virginians die a day from overdose.”

Miyares said what people don’t know can hurt them. And in the case of counterfeit drugs, fentanyl, and other highly addictive opioids, the consequences can be deadly.

“A lot of what the ‘One Pill Can Kill’ public service announcement and campaign is about is just educating young people that this is there. It’s lurking,” Miyares said. “It’s in every community in the Commonwealth from Tangier Island to Galax to Lee County, Virginia. It is everywhere. And so our job is to let young people know that it’s out there and it’s lurking and to be mindful and to be careful.”

Miyares also is looking for help from the General Assembly. He supports a bill that would allow prosecutors to charge a person with felony homicide by providing fentanyl to someone who suffers a fatal overdose.

Miyares said that proposal failed by a single vote this year, and he hopes it will pass in 2023.

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