During the Livingston Parish Council’s meeting on August 27, 2026, the council heard two proclamations regarding the issue of opioid use to preface a presentation on the One Pill Can Kill initiative.
The first proclamation declared August 31, 2026 as Overdose Awareness Day and the second declared the month of September 2026 as National Recovery Month.
“Overdose continues to impact individuals, families, and communities throughout Livingston Parish, Louisiana and across the nation, claiming lives regardless of age, background, or circumstance,” the proclamation read, adding that the proclamations serve as a way “to remember those that have lost their lives to overdose, acknowledge the grief of families and loved ones, and reduce the stigma associated with substance use disorders.”
In honor of the two proclamations, the government buildings along Government Boulevard will be lit purple as a sign of remembrance for those lost to opioid addiction.
Glenn Lemoine, the Livingston Parish Government Opioid Director, then opened the floor for the council to receive a presentation on the work and future goals of the One Pill Can Kill initiative.
"This program is truly a collaborative effort,” Lemoine added. “Addressing the opioid crisis requires… partnership, education, prevention, treatment, recovery, resources, public awareness, and the people who are willing to work together for a common goal."
“Ultimately, our goal is simple: to save lives, strengthen families, provide pathways to recovery, and also make it easy for the people of Livingston Parish to find help before, during, and after crisis,” Lemoine stated.
Tim Henderson then gave the council the presentation while discussing the partnerships and outreach efforts that have been established so far for opioid prevention and addiction assistance.
The presentation began with a chart detailing the number of overdoses and deaths in Livingston Parish since the program’s creation in 2025.
In 2025, the number of overdoses totalled 1,291 with 25 deaths, while in 2026 that number dropped to 860 overdoses and only 15 deaths.
“This downward trend is something our parish, and the people that are in the One Pill Can Kill program, are working diligently to make sure to decrease these numbers every year,” Henderson told the council.
The One Pill Can Kill initiative is focused on several ways to battling opioid addiction within the parish.
Prevention and education is achieved through school outreach programs, the distribution of educational materials, and increased youth and parent awareness. Treatment and recovery occurs through partnerships with programs that connect people with treatment, recovery, counseling, and support groups.
Overdose response is heightened through Naloxone (narcan) awareness and response training with other life-saving measures. Public awareness is addressed through billboards, car wraps, videos, social media, events, and community campaigns dedicated to establishing a wealth of information regarding opioid addiction and treatment.
One Pill Can Kill often partners with these organizations for their treatment and recovery process:
The One Pill Can Kill initiative has also made it a central focus to increase the availability of and education on narcan in areas with heightened foot traffic, such as large stores and hotels, throughout the parish.
“We try to make sure that [shop owners] understand that we have a program, we’ll come teach your people what to look for and how to respond to an overdose,” Henderson explained, “and we provide them narcan in the event that they should find somebody in a compromised position.”
“If we can get people talking about it, then we can take some of the stigma away from it,” Henderson stated.
The One Pill Can Kill initiative also has a focus on prevention that begins with education. Last year, the initiative reached out to half of the high schools in the parish to provide presentations focused on the risks of fentanyl and counterfeit pills in an effort to highlight making safe choices.
These educational campaigns are designed to make the danger of opioids and counterfeit pills recognizable and understandable in an effort to reinforce prevention.
Henderson added that the initiative seeks to reach out to every high school, along with other levels of education, in the parish to provide these presentations and educational materials.
“This is not exclusive to anybody. From a socioeconomic standpoint, everybody is affected by this in one way or another. Most people know somebody personally or are friends with people that have experienced some addiction,” Henderson concluded.
The presentation ended with a breakdown of the initiative funding and where that funding has been spent so far.
