BELTON, Mo. — A forum was held in Belton on Monday evening aimed at spreading awareness on the dangers of fentanyl.
Lawmakers, law enforcement officials and families of victims who died at the hands of fentanyl all participated in the forum.
This includes Sarah Eager, whose daughter died from fentanyl poisoning.
"And I looked over and she was laying on the floor and I touched her, and I knew as soon as I touched she was not alive," Eager said at the meeting.
Sandy Clutter, the executive director for Belton CARES, was at the meeting and said preventing the deaths starts with education.
"We have to educate ourselves," Clutter said.
A huge part of the meeting focused on fentanyl poisoning, which occurs when someone takes something not knowing it's laced with fentanyl.
The meeting encouraged learning how to use narcan, how to recognize opiod addiction and the importance of early intervention.
"The age for most kids to experiment with drugs is somewhere between 10 and 12 years old," said Tracy Carpenter, who lost her son to a fentanyl poisoning. "And fentanyl is insidious. It is highly addictive. These kids don't know if they are experimenting, that there is fentanyl in what they are taking."
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