How Hays County is combatting fentanyl crisis

By Andrea Narro

News Reporter

SAN MARCOS – The death of a 15-year-old in Hays County on Monday, Oct. 2, is suspected to have been caused by overdosing on fentanyl. Hays County has been facing deaths caused by the fentanyl crisis since last year. 

Deputy at the Hays County Sherrif’s Office, Anthony Hipolito, shares how concerning the issue of fentanyl has been in Hays County, and how many cases they’ve had since last year. 

“Since Jan. 1 of 2022 just the Hays County Sheriff’s Office has responded to 66 fentanyl poisonings within our jurisdiction,” said Hipolito. “Unfortunately, 14 of those did pass away.”

With this issue becoming more alarming for residents in the area, the Hays County Sheriff’s Office has been looking for ways to battle against the issue, creating the campaign “One Pill Can Kill” to spread awareness about the drug.

“Over the summer of 2022, we lost four to five Hays CISD students to fentanyl poisonings,” Hipolito said. “When that happens our sheriff came to our community outreach unit and asked us to come up with our own fentanyl awareness program to go out and talk to anybody and everybody that would give us 10, 15, 30 minutes to talk.”

The campaign has not only been used in Hays County, but has also been taken to other cities in Texas, and even to other states by the Hays County Sheriff’s Office by having successful presentations about fentanyl. 

“We’ve also been asked to go outside the county, we’ve gone to the Austin area, Georgetown area, we’ve gone to Houston, we’ve gone to Texas City,” Hipolito said. “Just a few months ago we went up to Kansas to present to four different high schools up there in that area.”

Fentanyl has become a big issue around the country, not only in Hays County, but is a crisis where nearly 200 people are dying per day due to this poison. 

To learn more about preventing fentanyl poisonings, visit the Hays County Fentanyl Resource Page.