While families across the country celebrate Mother’s Day, far too many of us will have an empty chair at our table. I lost my son, Mark, to a preventable overdose. For over 100 years this country has attempted to eliminate illicit drug use by arrests and imprisonment. And for over 100 years this punitive policy has failed. This failure is evidenced by over 110,000 lives lost to overdose in 2023.
The poisoning narrative emphasizes the “innocence” of people who died from consuming fentanyl unknowingly. In doing so, it contrasts them with others: the people who sold the drugs (guilty of murder); and people who knowingly used fentanyl (guilty of the choice that led to their overdose).
WTFentanyl.com is a comprehensive resource dedicated to raising awareness about the devastating impact of fentanyl and advocating for effective solutions to the overdose crisis. Their site provides critical information on the dangers of fentanyl, shares personal stories from those affected, and offers actionable steps for prevention and advocacy.
Denise Cullen lost her 27-year-old son, Jeff, to an overdose in 2008. She also co-founded a support group called GRASP for people like her in California. (Note: GRASP is a nationwide organization of those who have lost the one they love to a drug-related death.) “There’s all this misunderstanding about people who use drugs and it can happen to anybody,” she says. “And if it’s your kid then all of a sudden it’s your fault, you’re a bad parent, your kid’s a bad kid.”