Northwest Virginia Drug and Gang Task Force Joins ‘One Pill Can Kill’ Campaign

The ten local and state law enforcement member agencies of the Northwest Virginia Regional Drug and Gang Task Force are encouraging area residents to take advantage of Virginia’s public, anti-drug awareness initiative “One Pill Can Kill.” The initiative was launched by the Office of the Virginia Attorney General and is modeled after the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) national campaign. The campaign additionally supports Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s Executive Order 26, which aims to strengthen Virginia’s interdiction and enforcement response to the current fentanyl crisis.

“The Northwest Virginia Regional Drug and Gang Task Force interdicts all illicit drugs, but is especially focused on disrupting the supply chains responsible for flooding our local region with fake prescription pills,” said Virginia State Police Special Agent Harvey Stover, Task Force Supervisor. “Last year, the task force seized 5,000 pills containing fentanyl or an estimated $100,000 worth of fake pills containing fentanyl. For every one of those pills removed from the street is a potential fatal overdose prevented and a life saved.”

Last week, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares launched the campaign’s new www.onepillcankillva.org website that features a variety of preventative and educational resources for Virginians of all ages to learn more about the deadly dangers of fake prescription pills containing lethal substances like fentanyl.

According to the OAG, an estimated 1,967 people died from overdoses of fentanyl or other synthetic opioids in Virginia in 2022. Fentanyl, the synthetic opioid most commonly found in fake pills, is the primary driver in this alarming increase in poisoning deaths.

Nationwide, drugs like fentanyl accounted for 77% of teen overdose deaths in 2021. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, the overdose mortality rate among U.S. adolescents aged 14 to 18 years old rose by 94% between 2019 and 2020.

The Northwest Virginia Drug and Gang Task Force is comprised of law enforcement personnel from Clarke, Frederick, Page, Warren, and Shenandoah County Sheriff’s Departments, Front Royal, Luray, Strasburg, and Winchester Police Departments and the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Culpeper Field Office. The Northwest Virginia Regional Drug and Gang Task Force is a HIDTA funded initiative.