We can’t arrest our way out of this crisis.”

Minnesota Senator Judy Seeberger

For a fifth year, members of the Hastings community ranging from nonprofits to city, county, state and federal officials came together to raise awareness about the dangers of fentanyl, for the fifth annual Overdose and Fentanyl Poisoning Awareness Day.
The event was presented by the Devin J. Norring Foundation in collaboration with the United Way of Hastings and Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, and featured resources from across the community.
“This evening, we come together to remember those who we have lost, to support families and friends grieving their absence and to strengthen our shared commitment to preventing future tragedies,” said Tony Jurgens, former Minnesota State Representative for Hastings.
Jurgens spoke to the long shift from “blame to cooperation” in how to best address the opioid epidemic.
From the proliferation of Narcan to increased addiction and mental health resources, to increased focus on social media platforms that can host drug dealers, the opioid epidemic is multifaceted, and therefore so too must be the response.
“We can’t arrest our way out of this crisis,” said Minnesota Senator Judy Seeberger.
Part of that multifaceted response also has to do with terminology.
The term fentanyl poisoning rather than fentanyl overdose has become widely used in recent years. The term poisoning shifts blame from the user to the dealer, especially as fentanyl appears intermixed in other drugs. Many users don’t know what they are taking and can be killed with even trace amounts of fentanyl.
Dakota County and Hastings have continued to see high rates of both fatal and non-fatal overdoses even after the spike of usage during the pandemic.
“We see that fentanyl overdose and fentanyl poisoning is kind of at an epicenter down here in Dakota County,” said Seeberger.
This year, Hastings police have responded to 11 overdoses, of which two were fatal. Those numbers have fallen slightly since the pandemic but “unfortunately, it’s nowhere near where it needs to be. So, the problem is still here, and we’re still seeing it every day,” said Deputy Chief Bryan Schowalter.
Schowalter credited the drop in fatal overdoses in part to the availability of Narcan, which is given away for free in Dakota County libraries and was available to attendees of the event.
Several Hastings elected officials spoke to ongoing legislative efforts to address the opioid crisis through video messages for the event.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar praised H.R. 27, better known as the HALT Fentanyl Act which was signed into law by President Trump on July 17, 2025. The law permanently classified fentanyl-related substances (FRS) as schedule I controlled substances.
Klobuchar also spoke to H.R. 8918, the Cooper Davis and Devin Norring Act, which would require social media companies to report to law enforcement when drugs are distributed on their platforms.
This standardized required reporting mirrors the required reporting of child sexual abuse material on social media platforms and is intended to create a “standardized and comprehensive reporting mechanism” for drug sales, according to the Devin J. Norring Foundation website.
The bill is named in part for Devin J. Norring, a Hastings High School student who died of fentanyl poisoning in April 2020. Since then, Devin’s parents Bridgette and Tom Norring founded the Devin J. Norring Foundation that seeks to raise awareness about the dangers of fentanyl.
This bill was characterized by Rep. Angie Craig as a bill that seeks to “finally crack down on big tech to stop the marketing, distribution and sale of pressed pills, many that sadly are laced with fentanyl.”
“As you talk about the fentanyl crises, as you talk about illegal drugs, you cannot let big tech escape accountability for the contributions that they make to this crisis every single day,” said Erich Mische, CEO of the nonprofit SAVE, Suicide Awareness Voices of Education.
Another bill passed in Minnesota earlier this year was H.F. 1641 that allowed students to carry opioid antagonists like Narcan in schools.
“No matter the division in our world or the insecurity that we feel, there should be no debate that human life comes first,” said Sofia Templos, a student activist who previously spoke before the Minnesota Senate for the bill.
Education, especially for younger teens, has been a focus for outreach.
“We need to start talking to our kids earlier, younger, because by the time they’re 18 and out of the house, they need to have that ‘just say no’ habit,” said Rafael Mattai, Assistant Special Agent in Charge at the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Minneapolis/St. Paul District Office.
The earlier children begin using addictive substances, the more likely they are to develop a substance problem, said Mattai.
Compounding the issue of fentanyl is the quality of counterfeit pills coming out of illegal drug labs.
“You would choose the fake ones or the counterfeit ones over the real ones because these are made better. You can’t tell. There is no way to tell on the street.”
Of those counterfeit pills, half tested by the DEA contained a lethal dose of fentanyl.
“50% of the pills out there will kill you,” said Mattai.
For Bridgette Norring, who spoke last at the event, the focus has always been on outreach:
“Every conversation we have, every young person we reach, every family we support, in every law we pass brings us one step closer to a future where fewer lives are lost, a future where communities stand stronger, families are supported and children are protected.”