On November 5, 2025, First Lady of Virginia Suzanne Youngkin visited Longwood University as part of her ‘It Only Takes One’ initiative, designed to address the fentanyl crisis through conversations with Virginians.
According to the Virginia Department of Health, of the 2,463 drug overdose deaths statewide in 2023, 79% of them involved fentanyl, fentanyl analogs or tramadol. According to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), fentanyl is the “primary driver of overdose deaths in the United States.”
Youngkin said she first learned about fentanyl when a family friend lost her child, then a student at Clemson University, to overdose.
“Glenn and I got a call right at Labor Day [2020] from some friends that told us that a 21-year-old son of some very good friends of ours… had gone to sleep in his dorm room — He was a rising senior at Clemson University, and had the world at his fingertips. He was a football player that had gone to school with my kids. He had two brothers, a wonderful family — and he had not woken up,” she said. His autopsy later revealed he had died of a fentanyl overdose.
“In 2021, when my husband stepped out of his business career and stepped into public service, and then, in a miracle, was elected by Virginians, I was really nervous,” she said. “I did not know what in the world it was that I was meant to do, what God was calling me to do. How could I, a stay-at-home mom, talk to people? So, I started listening.”
Youngkin said, as she listened to Virginians, people came forward with their stories. One of those people was Jennifer Johnson, who lost her son to a fentanyl-laced pill and who was at the event to share her story.
Johnson told attendees her son PJ, then a student at George Mason University, had taken a fentanyl-laced pill. “PJ and Anna [his girlfriend] thought they were splitting a Percocet, but it wasn't a Percocet. It was a counterfeit pill made of fentanyl. There was enough in that one pill to kill them both. I was home with him when it happened. I was clueless,” Johnson said. “There was no noise, no struggle, no chance to help. It was completely silent. Now, that silence is what remains.”
As part of the event, Youngkin also told attendees about the dangers of fentanyl. “It takes the equivalent of a grain of salt of fentanyl to kill you,” she said. “So imagine that you have a grain or two of salt on your finger. That's what takes your life. That's how potent it is.”
She also shared information about the dangers of counterfeit pills, like the one involved in PJ's death. “Xanax, Adderall, Percocet, some others, they look identical to the pills that we all take for very legitimate medical reasons. You cannot tell them apart,” she said. Youngkin later added, “You just don't take it if it does not come from a licensed pharmacy, in its original packaging, no matter what pill it is.”
According to an Instagram post from the Office of the First Lady, over 200 students attended the event. After the event, students were able to receive Naloxone (NARCAN) training, a medication that can reverse an opioid overdose.
In an interview with The Rotunda, Youngkin emphasized student-to-student connection on this issue. “Empowering students with the information they need and the training that they need to have really capable and caring conversations with one another is making a difference on our college campuses, and we want to continue to see fewer and fewer people being impacted by fentanyl,” she said.
“We've seen almost a 65% reduction in fentanyl overdose deaths from when we started this work four years ago. That's a remarkable statistic, but there's still more work to do,” she said, speaking about her plans to continue addressing this issue after her husband leaves office. Furthermore, according to preliminary data from the Virginia Department of Health, total overdose deaths were down 43% between 2023 and 2024 statewide.
The event, in large part, was put together and brought to Longwood by senior Taylor Blount. Blount is the president of Greeks for Change and interned in the Governor’s office over the summer.
In an interview with The Rotunda, Blount said her experience as a Governor’s fellow inspired her to continue to take action at Longwood. “I loved it so much, I didn't want it to end,” she said. “I needed something to be able to do and tie it to Longwood. Being a [College Fentanyl] Ambassador made that a possibility.”
Blount was part of the panel that spoke to attendees, alongside Youngkin, Johnson, Vice President for Student Affairs Cameron Patterson and Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life (FSL) Julie Ramsey.
Blount said she was incredibly proud of the event and the level of engagement from students. “We were completely packed in here,” she said. “We had every Longwood student of every kind of organization you could think of. And I'm just so grateful that we were able to bring someone from everywhere on campus so that hopefully now it'll go out even farther.”
“I want people to know that it could happen to anyone,” Blount said. “It's someone who thinks that they need just an Adderall to do their homework, and they take it from their friend, or a Tylenol.”
Youngkin told The Rotunda, if she could leave one message with Longwood students, “Your voice matters. Conversations matter.”
“I'm not a medical expert. I'm not someone who really has the capacity to come along and counsel someone in psychology or psychiatry. The only thing I've got is my caring disposition for others,” she said.
Youngkin added, “I think that the conversations that we've been having with people about the realities of this dangerous synthetic opioid and about the lives lost, honoring the lives lost, and saying we don't want another Virginian or another family or another school community to feel the pain of losing someone that's important to them. I think that's probably the most critical aspect of this, is to have that conversation and make people aware of the problem.”
