OCEANSIDE, Calif. — TrueCare clinic hosted an event Friday evening in Oceanside to reach local families about the important topic of fentanyl, but the safety reminders apply to families everywhere.

“You don’t need to panic, there’s nothing different about this year in particular, but over the last few years we have seen an increase in opioid overdose so we want to make sure none of that candy is tainted,” said Jennifer Young, family nurse practitioner at TrueCare.

TrueCare teamed up with the Oceanside Police Department and other community partners to educate the community about Halloween safety.

“Opportunity to get some awareness surrounding some of those things that haven’t been a part of Halloween in the past that they know of,” said Sonia Gonzales, director of community engagement with TrueCare. 

While the Oceanside Police Department says there is no targeted concern about the presence of fentanyl in Halloween candy, but the key message is to stay involved in your kids’ Halloween experience.

“You have those events all over the country that are really few and far between, but really it just comes down to inspecting the candy if you see any wrappers that are open, better throw it away, any loose candy throw those away,” Officer Luke Rubish said.

Young suggests families now keep Naloxone on hand at home out of an abundance of caution. Samples of NARCAN and fentanyl testing strips were available at Friday’s event.

“NARCAN, you can use in case of an accidental overdose and fentanyl strips can be used in a variety of different ways to check to make sure that your particular product isn’t tainted with fentanyl. It’s not 100%, but it’s a tool we can use to help reduce these accidental overdoses,” Young said.

This was the first year TrueCare put on this type of event and they say they want to continue them in the future on important health topics for the community.