District Attorney fights for Federal and State fentanyl prosecution
March 17, 2022Colorado lawmakers say they plan to address fentanyl crisis with sweeping bill in 2022
March 17, 2022GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (FOX) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year, more than ever before. At the heart of the epidemic, the rising menace of Fentanyl.
“She had a very big light, she had a very big smile and she made friends with everybody that crossed her path,” Andrea Thomas says.
Ashley Romero once dreamed of becoming a forensic scientist, instead she took a counterfeit painkiller laced with the poison Fentanyl and died at 32. “Three years ago, I didn’t know what Fentanyl was, my daughter didn’t know what Fentanyl was and now I get calls every day from mothers all across the country that have lost young children to Fentanyl,” Thomas explains.
Shortly after Ashley died, her mother Andrea Thomas started the Voices for Awareness Foundation. “There were several people affected and lost their lives from one dealer in our area,” Thomas says.
Just 2 milligrams of Fentanyl is lethal, “We call it a drug of mass destruction,” Thomas says, and its not just killing addicts, “Fentanyl is killing first time users.”
To fight Fentanyl, state and national agencies are beefing up enforcement. “These overdose deaths are directly caused by Mexican drug cartels that are flooding the United States with deadly Fentanyl, with millions of fake pills,” Anne Milgram, DEA Administrator says.
Traces of Fentanyl are showing up in drugs like Marijuana and prescription Xanax but also in Heroine and Cocaine. “What we see seized today is about 15% of what’s actually coming into the country,” Thomas says.
Local prosecutors have seen a huge uptick in Fentanyl cases. “I don’t believe we’ve seen anything that parallels Fentanyl in my time as a prosecutor in terms of its availability lethality,” Rich Tuttle, Assistant District Attorney says.
For teens, suppliers are as close as social media. “It is very important that we bring awareness into our community,” Thomas says. Warnings that came too late to save Ashley, “Just a speck can kill,” Tuttle said.
Still Andrea hopes Ashley’s story will make others refuse unsourced drugs that could kill them and their dreams.
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK - AUGUST 31: Shaun Willis, with the Brooklyn Community Recovery Center, demonstrates how to use Narcan to revive a person in the case of a drug overdose on August 31, 2022 in New York City. Nearly one million people have died of drug overdose deaths in America in the past two decades, with an increasing majority of those deaths due to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. To mark International Overdose Awareness Day, the Brooklyn Community Recovery Center handed out packs of Narcan nasal spray before holding a brief vigil for lives lost due to drug overdoses. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
