WHEELING, W.Va. — Representatives of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Northern West Virginia are going to meet with 5th graders in 20 separate schools this week to give students the facts about the dangers of drugs, particularly heroin laced with fentanyl, U.S. Attorney Bill Ihlenfeld said.
The education efforts are part of National Heroin and Opioid Awareness Week. Teens and tweens need to know the facts, Ihlenfeld said. 
“If they know that taking just one hit of this stuff, and it only takes two milligrams of fentanyl to be fatal, by taking just one dose of something they are provided by a friend or a teammate or someone on the street, that could be it,” Ihlenfeld said.
Ihlenfeld’s office has taken a closer look at drug-related deaths in West Virginia. The number of deaths in West Virginia from 2015 and through mid-2016 is more than 40 percent, Ihlenfeld said.
“Typically you are going to see a mix of drugs in the system of someone who has died in a drug overdose, but in 40 percent or more of the deaths we are seeing today there is fentanyl that is part of that mix,” according to Ihlenfeld.
In addition to the talks at elementary schools, a discussion with middle school and high school students is scheduled for Tuesday at Fairmont State University. Ihlenfeld plans to receive the students’ input in the development of drug prevention strategies.