A campaign aimed at educating the public about the dangers of fentanyl kicked off this week in Carbon, Monroe and Pike counties.

During the Carbon County Commissioners’ meeting on Thursday, Jamie Drake, director of Carbon-Monroe-Pike Drug and Alcohol Commission, and Sarah Clark, owner and creative strategist for Kudu Creative, formally launched the new Fight Fentanyl campaign. The three counties partnered together to create an educational campaign that aims to shed light on a very dangerous drug gripping the country and killing thousands a year.

“There’s a huge problem and it’s the size of a few grains of sand,” Clark said, adding that the three counties banding together will create a stronger awareness campaign to educate the public, as well as share resources that are available in the community.

“When we partner together, we win to stop the fentanyl crisis,” Clark said. “That means teenagers, parents, coaches, community members, we all have a role to play.”

The campaign is clear and each county uses the same messages to create a strong brand: “Fentanyl poisoning stops here.”

“We’re going to make you aware of fentanyl poisoning,” Clark said. “This is a very, very stand-up rally cry. We’re going to stop this within our community.”

Drake said that the three counties, as well as Kudu and her company has worked diligently to get the message out there, using a portion of the opioid settlement money.

“With this campaign, it is our hope that we are going to be here to raise awareness about the dangers of fentanyl ... and spread the message that in our county, we’re not going to stand for this and that we don’t want it in our county.”

The campaign is a multi-tiered approach, from billboards on major roadways, to rack cards and ads in Lehigh Valley Heath Network and St. Luke’s offices, as well as in schools and on social media.

Clark said that the three counties have a website that aims to provide more information, as well as share upcoming events, such as naloxone distributions, which could help reverse opioid overdoses to provide extra time to get that person medical attention.

The website, wefightfentanyl.org, as well as on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, provides a landing space for residents of the three counties to learn about the dangers and help spread the message.

“Part of the education is making people aware of what fentanyl is and how strong it is,” Clark said, noting that fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than heroin and only takes a 2 milligrams to cause a fatal overdose.

Commissioner Rocky Ahner said that this was long overdue and was glad to be able to partner with the other two counties, as well as Drake and Clark to make this campaign a reality.

He pointed out that fentanyl kills seven out of every 10 people who do drugs. That’s because of the high percentage of counterfeit pills containing fentanyl.

In the meeting room Thursday there were approximately 20 people.

“That means there is 14 of you that would go out in a body bag and the other six might not be so lucky next time,” he said. “That’s the point we want to get across. This is a bad thing and we got to stop it.

“... I’m tired of seeing families being destroyed.”

Carbon County District Attorney Michael Greek said that this campaign is a great step in helping law enforcement because getting the message out and spreading awareness will hopefully cut down on the number of cases police and the criminal justice system see.

“The epidemic is only getting worse and worse each year,” Greek said. “I think you did an outstanding job with this.”

In neighboring Monroe, the commissioners kicked off the campaign on Wednesday.

During their meeting, Commissioner John Moyer said, “Throughout the commonwealth, each county is doing something so from what we know, we are the only group of three that have banded together to get a more concise message out. And I give Jamie and Sarah a lot of credit because herding nine commissioners to decide on something is like herding cats, so they were able to pull that off. I would like to thank them and their staff and everybody here, because everybody has been part of this.”

Commissioner Sharon Laverdure said, “I didn’t know if everybody realized that we are the tri-county drug and alcohol, and so it is Carbon, Monroe and Pike, so we do work together. I think the fact that we pulled it together to do this whole initiative is huge for our area.

Reporter Kristine Porter contributed to this report.