With dangerous opioids like fentanyl making headlines almost daily, it's important for all demographics to be aware of the dangers.

The Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools want to make their students and parents stay up to date with all the latest information by hosting a fentanyl information sessions, like on Thursday night at Mother Teresa School in Sylvan Lake.

About 50 parents and students were at Mother Teresas, to listen to an expert from Turning Point explain in detail about the current opioid crisis, potential warning signs of drug use in your own children, and ways to help keep them from developing dangerous addictions.

Tricia Peden was that registered nurse at Turning Point and she hosted the presentation, and she says when it comes to kids and drugs, the best thing for this is support and understanding.

 “When you are dealing with youth, if they have one adult they can trust to be able to tell what’s going on in their life, the importance of having that one person is huge. A recent study out of BC showed that just having one compassionate adult who the adolescent or the youth didn’t feel judged by, made a huge difference in their safety and their drug use.”

Peden says the unique thing about opioids, is that a lot of them, even fentanyl, can be legally and easily purchased online, with some being available right in your medicine cabinet.

“We all have relatives of all different ages, we know that people who use drugs are of all different ages, we know that kids like to experiment, parents have prescription medications, it just can be very easy to access drugs of any sort.”

Parents who attended the information session were grateful for any information which can help keep their kids from developing dangerous habits, with some bringing their young children along, feeling it was important not to sugar coat the dangers of opioids.

The next information session will be at Notre Dame High School in red Deer on March 26th, from 7-8pm