Mayor Quinton Lucas hosts fentanyl summit to address growing overdose problem

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas says overdose deaths are at epidemic levels locally. On Friday, Lucas hosted a fentanyl summit at the city’s health department to hear from a wide variety of perspectives on the issue.

Lucas invited local health officials, service providers, law enforcement, and families affected by the overdose crisis.

“My life changed on July 17, 2022, after receiving a phone call that my beautiful 21-year-old daughter, Jaden Anderson, had ed away after taking two drugs that were laced with fentanyl,” said Holly Yocum, who spoke at the summit.

“It’s a sense of living in the past. It’s hard to move forward when they stay behind,” Yocum continued. “It’s just not right when you see a picture of your child, and you’re getting older and they stay the same age.”

From 2017 to 2021, fentanyl deaths rose nearly 1000% in Kansas City. In 2021 alone, fentanyl overdoses killed nearly 1,500 Missourians and more than 400 people in Kansas.

“We have too many accidental deaths in this city, who are preventable deaths in this city,” Lucas said. “These are all people who should be alive today. These are all people who I wish we could have done more for.”

Last month, city council ed an ordinance that required all fatal and non-fatal fentanyl overdoses to be reported to the health department within 24 hours. The city says that data will shed light on a complex problem.

“It will keep us from having to look two-to-three years in the rears,” said Dr. Marvia Jones, the Health Department’s Director. “Getting data late doesn’t really allow you to make quick pivots in your intervention. It does not allow you to make decision that will impact today.”

“We absolutely plan to continue to address this problem until it’s not a problem anymore,” said Lucas.

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