By David Larson
Carolina Journal
On Saturday Sept. 17, people from around the country gathered in Washington, D.C., to demand action from national leaders on the spike in fentanyl deaths. The event was organized by a group called Lost Voices of Fentanyl, and among those gathered were about 20 members of the Forgotten Victims of North Carolina, a state-based grassroots group of mostly mothers whose children were lost to fentanyl poisoning.
Patricia Drewes, who is part of Lost Voices of Fentanyl and is also the organizer of Forgotten Victims of North Carolina, told Carolina Journal on Sept. 19 that about 700 marched from the National Mall to the White House. Drewes daughter, Heaven Leigh Nelson, died of fentanyl poisoning in 2019.
During the day of action, Drewes said she met with multiple congressional leaders and their staff. Drewes said they wanted to meet with members of both parties, but Democrats were more hesitant to meet.
Drewes and her group are advocating for harsher penalties on fentanyl distributors and for China and the Mexican cartels to be held responsible, policies that may be less palatable to Democrats. The staff of retiring Rep. David Price, D-NC04, was an exception, and Drewes spoke with them on the issue.
Drewes and other leaders from around the country were then hosted by the Republican Study Committee at a roundtable event regarding how to address the fentanyl crisis. Four of the nine guest speakers and participants were from North Carolina.
At the RSC roundtable, Drewes said she prepared a short audio but that it wouldn’t play.
“I’ll tell you what it was,” Drewes recalled telling them. “It’s the sound of a mother screaming that just saw her child being taken out in a body bag that was poisoned by fentanyl. I made that same cry or scream on Jan. 28, 2019. Every mother in this room has made that same God-awful scream. 108,000 American mothers made that scream in the United States last year alone. How many of us have to scream? How many of us have to bury our children before you heard us?”
Drewes also presented the RSC with a large box of obituaries from those that were lost, which she had collected from across the country.
“I told them, ‘I was going to mail this to the president. But I knew that he would probably never receive them. I knew that he would never receive them. So I am entrusting you to see to it that he gets these.’ So Jim Banks [a congressman from Indiana who serves as the chairman of the Republican Study Committee] is the one that actually took the obituaries to see to it that the president got them.”
She said that the committee agreed with the group that more has to be done and announced that they are working on a bill to address rainbow fentanyl, which is directly marketed to children and looks like candy.
“We want fentanyl labeled as a weapon of mass destruction,” Drewes said. “We want the Mexican cartel labeled as terrorists, because that’s what they are.”
Drewes said that she had been scheduled for an interview on FOX News but that the death of Queen Elizabeth bumped her segment. She joked that the media was apparently more interested in a queen’s death overseas than tens of thousands by fentanyl on our own shores.
“But kudos to FOX News,” she said. “They did cover us all day on Saturday.”
They should be holding signs against the open border policy of Joe Biden. 90% of fentanyl comes through he southern border.
So how do explain all the deaths before he became president?
Same way. Duh.
This article makes it sound as if the fentanyl was snuck into their food without their knowledge. If you CHOOSE to do illegal drugs YOU are responsible for the results.
Dear parents, you are responsible for your children, not the government.
What a heartless, ignorant comment. Are you implying that these parents were not good parents? You are wrong, sir. Yes, my son did illegal drugs. He would tell you that we were the best parents he could have asked for. And after a year clean he relapsed and was given fentanyl instead of the drug he thought he was getting. This is poisoning. When I was young, you could make a mistake and not die from it. My son was a good, caring, generous person and the world was better with him in it. Addiction is not easy to overcome and something needs to be done to stop the influx of fentanyl.
There are no rules in the drug game. One takes a chance with every hit, snort, and fix. Death could come at anytime. Leave that crap alone. Free your mind and your a×× will follow.
I think another point to consider is why so many people find drugs as the only way to“feel good”. In this day and age of division, hate, fear that has been propagated by politicians and political parties may be a contributing factor. Not a day goes by when I don’t hear of people screaming at each other over some political issue, talk about Covid, monkey pox or the disease du jour, crt,lgbt,race,gender,income,debt, heck even sports. It’s not hard to see how some people would turn to chemicals to feel good. Sadly, it only will get worse until the division of people groups end. Unfortunately I don’t see this happening anytime soon. You see those in power stay in power when people are divided. They are afraid of a unified group, because United we are strong, divided we are weak.
When I do offer my opinions here I not only think of the liberal boy I was 30 years ago and the naieve life of government that was going to protect me? When I do offer my opinion here I try to be respectful of all the times I should have lost my life when I used every known drug known on the streets to become the same demon I chased! I honestly will never understand why I am still using good air that others that have long passed because of me introducing a life style that is deadly? The residue of Fentanyl can kill those who were trying to help. The demons that killed thier children are the same demons I still live with, the drugs are not a thousand folds stronger then as they are now is the reason I still breath that good air that my dead friends should be breathing. Folks I have been given the chance of staying just a few inches above those demons for now?
Really Dan M,,, Just gonna go out ON A LIMB HERE N SAY U DONT HAVE NO KIDS,, Bcuz if U did U WUD RELIZE THAT EVERYONE MAKES MISTAKES,,U including,,NO1 trying to say that this problem JUST STARTED,,But what I can tell U is ALOT OF THE YOUNG N OLD WHO GET HOOKED ON THEM STUPID A** PAIN KILLERS,, Were bcuz of getting something broken then the DR gives U pain killers and afterwards UR HOOKED,After that U try and find something to stop the pain,, GET A LIFE AND STOP BEING A BULLY TO PEOPLE JUST TO MAKE UR SELF FEEL BETTER,,I’m pray for U,,
I do have several children and your post lacks relevancy to anything I said. We aren’t talking pain killers from a doctor, are we? We’re talking buying what you presume to be heroin or some other opioid from a drug dealer and dying as a result.
And my having children has nothing to do with my knowledge that everyone makes mistakes. I’m not really following your thought process here.
I think the point was that many with a heroin problem began by being prescribed painkillers. My son relapsed because a doctor said that as long as he took them as prescribed it would be fine. That was not true. His brain was wired differently and using them as prescribed triggered him. If you have not had to deal with this, count yourself as blessed. My son has sought help and counseling and was doing all the right things. He had a lapse of judgement and it killed him. He is in Heaven, I am the one suffering and I never did drugs in my life. I challenge you to watch “Poisoned:Americas Fentanyl Crisis” on Hulu since you have not had experience in dealing with this.
They are putting fentanyl in pot now. That is not a hard drug and no one thinks they are going to die by smoking a joint. Sadly today, that can happen.