When Ashley was a young teen she rapidly changed in just a short period of time. To the point her mother told her she wasn’t allowed to hang out with her current group of friends anymore. Within about 10 days of not allowing her to hang out with her new friends. One of her beautiful young friends passed away. After attending the funeral. Ashley  informed her mom that her friend died from OxyContin in that her friends mother was sharing her prescription with all her kids including their friends.   The search was on for treatment programs and any help they could get. They called every number they could find online and even called law enforcement for advice. The response was she was too young to be put in jail and was not provided any guidance or assistance. They contacted their insurance, this was a time in which the DOJ was still investigating OxyContin. Well, the red tape with insurance delayed treatment. Finally Ashley was assessed at a local hospital and insurance approved counseling but of course like all counseling services do they try to put it on their upbringing. No amount of counseling is going to treat the impacts of the opioids impact on the dopamine process within the brain. Ashley wanted effective help desperately. When the truth of OxyContin became public, heroin became a go to for those addicted to OxyContin. She finally was approved for outpatient treatment the effectiveness was very limited. It worked in a controlled environment. But parents are limited on controlled environments. When we were able to get her in inpatient treatment it had some improvement. But yet controlled access and counseling doesn’t repair the dopamine process. In and out of out patient and inpatient treatments Ashley was fighting for her life. No programs treated the impacts of what the drugs do to the brain. After getting better, she was in a very bad accident coded three times. Survived through many surgeries hardware through 3/4 of her back and in her feet. Pain management was going to be a major issue and we knew it. Marijuana became legalized in many states and Fentanyl began to hit the streets around that time. She was fighting for her life. Then Covid hit and pain management got even more complicated with limited access to health care. She started with one pill (prescription OxyContin), fought a long battle and took a pain pill that was laced with fentanyl.  Ashley is forever 31. She fought like a warrior. There is no safe amount of fentanyl it’s not an accidental overdose it’s poison = murder. It is hidden, deadly and inadvertently consumed by all ages. Actions have to be taken at all levels to stay ahead of the curve. The system is slow and has a lot of continuous improvement opportunities and the 4th wave has begun and the system has improved a little but not at the rapid rate needed to stay ahead and reduce the curve. Preventive Ed has improved but yet awareness programs are few and far between in schools. Aggressive actions must be taken at local, state and federal levels. The stigma is stronger than the initiative of all levels to take action to reduce the crisis. Everyone has a role because every family will be impacted. Talk to your local commissioners, state representatives and demand action from all levels because every level has a role in the fight. We need to stop the stigma speak up and demand effective preventive and corrective action until numbers decline more rapidly then they have inclined. Only then we will see and believe that action taken are effective. Stop blaming the child and/or self. Stop trying to blame the up bringing, fentanyl doesn’t discriminate. The leaders at all levels must work together to fix this crises. These are not accidental overdoses this is murder and everyone must work together toward various solutions to stop the incline and reduce the deaths. We owe that to future generations and if your elected officials are not working with you, stop electing them. Use your voices to speak up and stop blaming the victims. This is not the world we should leave behind for for generation. We have to become their voices for the battle many fought and lost. To help save others. Working together strategically at levels through various type actions is what is needed. Fentanyl can be inadvertently take out each and everyone of us no matter how strong minded and smart we think we are. If it doesn’t kill you, you will learn quickly you are fighting a battle alone without an arsenal of tools and support because our current system is not taken aggressive and effective action at every level.

Local governments need sufficient law enforcement trained to investigate these crimes. All coroners must be trained, these are not accidental overdoses this is homicide it is murder.  As a preventive action, awareness programs needs to be in all schools. Prosecutors and judges need awareness training. Local and State of Missouri Officials need to work together and lead the charge on stricter punishment for dealers and traffickers, take actions and sends a message not in my backyard, not in my county, not in my state, and not in the USA.  Work together regardless of the side of the aisle they sit on. Although I appreciate efforts on Treatment programs, they can’t stay ahead of the curve and have a lot of continuous improvements needed to be effective. We are calling all to action and will not stop until we see rapid results in the numbers. Start working together at all levels to protect American lives and future generations.