The Prevention Leaders Podcast
Why Is the DEA in Prevention?
1 hr 13 min
Guests: Sean Fearns, Kevin Collins
Listen on SpotifySummary
Sean Fearns and Kevin Collins from DEA Community Outreach and Prevention Support explain why the agency engages in prevention efforts and detail the free resources available to local communities. They trace the history back to the origins of Red Ribbon Week in 1985 and discuss modern initiatives like Fentanyl Free America. The conversation highlights how the DEA aims to support community leaders, schools, and coalitions rather than replacing traditional prevention organizations.
Key takeaways
- Learn the history behind DEA prevention efforts and the student-led origins of Red Ribbon Week.
- Understand the dangers of counterfeit pills and how illicit drugs are marketed to youth through smartphones.
- Explore the core pillars of Protect, Prevent, and Support within the Fentanyl Free America initiative.
- Connect with your local DEA community outreach specialist to access free educational tools and resources.
Show notes
Why does the Drug Enforcement Administration run prevention programs? Sean Fearns and Kevin Collins, from DEA Community Outreach and Prevention Support, answer that head-on, then show you what their team offersyour community at no cost.
The answer starts in 1985 with the murder of DEA Special Agent Kiki Camarena, and with a group of high school students in Calexico,California, who started what became Red Ribbon Week. From there we get into Fentanyl Free America, what a counterfeit pill actually is, how drugs are sold through the phones kids carry, and why overdose deaths coming down is not the same as the problem being solved.
Sean and Kevin are clear on one point. DEA does not claim to be a prevention organization. Their job is to support the people who are, andto connect parents, schools, coalitions, and families who have lost someone to the prevention work already happening in their community.
If you lead a coalition, work in a school, or run a campus program, you will leave with a list of free tools and one clear next step: find your DEA community outreach specialist. Red Ribbon Week starts October 23, so this is a good weekto press play.
In This Episode
- Why the E in DEA does not stand for education, and the 1985 story behind the agency's prevention work
- How high school students in Calexico, California, started Red Ribbon Week
- What Protect, Prevent, and Support mean inside Fentanyl Free America, and why a law enforcement agency talks about support
- What a counterfeit pill is, why even DEA chemists often cannot spot a fake by eye, and how pills now reach kids through their phones
- The part of prevention that does not expire when the drug of the moment changes, plus a walk-through of the free toolbox
Guest Bios
Sean Fearns is Chief of Community Outreach and Prevention Support at DEA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. He has spent 27 years at DEA, helped build the DEA Museum, and has run community outreach and prevention support for the last decade.
Kevin Collins is a Senior Prevention Program Manager at DEA. He spent about 20 years at the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, now the Partnership to End Addiction, before joining DEA about two and a half years ago.
Links Mentioned
- Fentanyl Free America: dea.gov/fentanylfree
- Operation Prevention: operationprevention.com
- Get Smart About Drugs and the publications library: getsmartaboutdrugs.gov/resources
- Just Think Twice: justthinktwice.gov
- Campus Drug Prevention: campusdrugprevention.gov
- Together for Families: dea.gov/togetherforfamilies
- Faces of Fentanyl: dea.gov/facesoffentanyl
- Red Ribbon Week: dea.gov/redribbon
- FindTreatment.gov and the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
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