Fentanyl is flooding into the US and a mother with a tragic connection to the synthetic drug is warning parents of the dangers it poses to their children. After losing her 19-year-old son Tyler to a fentanyl overdose four years ago, Ms Shamash has been committed to stopping other families from being torn apart by this drug. Through donations and fundraising she was able to put up a billboard and several street posters warning other parents about the deadly consequences of taking the synthetic opioid.
“So many kids are dying everyday and it doesn’t seem to be letting up. It’s getting worse and somehow the message isn’t getting across,” said Shamash who founded the Drug Awareness Foundation after her son Tyler died in 2018.
A Los Angeles billboard shows a picture of her son’s tombstone and the message: “Talk to your kids about fentanyl, we wish we had.”
Ms Shamash told Fox 11: “As parents there are some things you don’t want to talk about with your kids, but you need to. I wish I knew more about fentanyl, because I had barely heard of it,” said Ms Shamash.
“I definitely think I would have talked to Tyler about it. I wish he had seen a sign like this.”
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that can be found in methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, vaping products, as well as counterfeit Xanax, hydrocodone or Oxycodone.
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And the situation appears to be going from bad to worse. There were 37,208 fentanyl deaths in 2020 and 41,587 in 2021, a steep rise of 12 percent, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says.
Reports on the ground reveal the devastating impact the drug is having.
A woman from North Carolina was sentenced to 25 years on Thursday after her child was found holding fentanyl.
The woman was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison after a child holding a bag of fentanyl during a traffic stop resulted in the discovery of more drugs and cash, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
Jania Delicia Leggett, 28, will serve 300 months in prison for conspiring to distribute four hundred grams or more of fentanyl and for possessing firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking crime. She pled guilty to the charges on April 7, 2022.
Leggett ran a house used to distribute fentanyl in North Carolina from April through to September 2020, according to court documents and other information presented in court.
Witnesses also reported to law enforcement they had seen AR-15-style rifles and small children in the house that Leggett used as a hub for her fentanyl sales.
An investigation revealed Leggett was responsible for distributing over 3.5 kilograms of fentanyl during the six-month period.
