Missoula student, Montana Meth Project focusing on fentanyl prevention

MISSOULA – It is Red Ribbon Weekand Montana methamphetamine project focuses on fentanyl prevention. What makes this campaign unique is that it is run by a student.

“I think it’s very important to spread this message in a peer-to-peer format,” said Annie, a senior at Loyola High School in Missoula, who is leading a fentanyl prevention program as her senior year project.

Her lessons were inspired by parents and families who had lost loved ones to the drug.

“We heard a story about a boy named Kevin McConville who was a 17-year-old (whose) mother found (him) dead in his bed,” Annie explained. “He thought he was taking a pill from an unknown source that would help him sleep, but unfortunately he died, and this just shows us how important it is to understand where these pills come from.”

Annie Loyola Fentanyl Prevention — *Annie, a senior at Loyola High School in Missoula, is teaching a fentanyl prevention program as part of her senior project.*

The Montana Meth Project hopes students will be more receptive to drug prevention advice if it comes from people they can contact rather than authorities.

“We all went through a phase in our teens and early twenties when we felt invincible and thought this couldn’t happen to us,” noted Amy Rue, executive director of the Montana Meth Project.

A teacher-led version was considered, but Annie believed it could have the positive impact that the Montana Meth Project expected.

“This is a warning that I want to pass on to the people around me,” said Annie, who kept her siblings in mind while working on the project. “I have a brother who studies.”

While the threat of fentanyl does not discriminate based on age, the Montana Meth Project educates people ages 19 to 25.

“You know, men and women go through a coming-of-age phase in their teens – 20s – when they take the biggest risks of their entire lives,” Rue told MTN. “We want to make sure they are armed with that risk long before they are offered that choice and make that fatal decision.”

The Montana Meth Project reports that in 2023, seven of 10 pills seized by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration contained a lethal dose of fentanyl.

The goal of this project is to ensure that these pills do not end up in the hands of the next generation.

“The numbers on fentanyl are undeniable and it is a threat like we have never seen before,” Annie concluded.

Additional information about the fentanyl prevention program can be found at: https://montanamet.org/fentanyl-lesson/.