When COVID hit, the world stood still.
Every precaution imaginable was
put into place to save lives.
But consider this.
Since 2020, nearly 1500 people
have died in King County alone.
Not from COVID-19,
but a deadly dose of fentanyl.
And it only takes this much to be lethal.
Most communities are experiencing a surge
in fentanyl related deaths right now,
it's especially bad in King Cou.
In 2019, an average of three
lives were lost every week.
Because of a fentanyl
poisoning as we speak today,
the number has skyrocketed to me
than 20 deaths a week in King Cy
because of a fentanyl poisoning.
It doesn't discriminate against,
race or a preexisting condition.
I spoke with five families who lost a
child due to a fentanyl related poisoning.
They want the world to know
this is not an overdose problem.
What a beautiful picture.
And
she was a beautiful girl inside and out.
This is Sophia Trey, my beautiful Trey.
This is brilliant. Lawson, Lync,
Lucas. He's my younger son,
but he was my first born.
He was the best Big Brother.
She was witty.
It was funny, really kind.
Lucas was kind.
Lucas had lots of friends.
He was a musician.
So that that's why I
brought this picture.
Because he was in his element.
Here she was 20
in this picture. This was takent
a few days before she passed aw.
I lost her six days after she turned 18. He
was 21. So I would not think of
Lucas being a depressed guy.
He never imagined that we'd lose her first.
He got a Percocet from an acquaintance,
and it was not a Percocet.
It was completely fake,
with fentanyl and fillers,
and he died in his sleep.
And my husband and I were both
what is what is fentanyl? How
does it feel to be around
other other moms like this.
They're the only ones that know how I feel.
It's like you you're in this new club
now that you never wanted to be.
It's it's a horrible club.
But you find bonding 5
mothers just a fraction of the families
left struggling to make sense o.
Their children, Brilliant.
Lynch, Sophia Humphries, Trey Schweigert,
Jalen Penix and Lucas Pierre,
all thought they were experimenting with
a single dose of the painkiller Percocet.
But in fact, the pill was unknowingly
laced with the synthetic opioid fentanyl.
But I don't get the sense that y
of your children had a drug pro.
She was doing great.
And this was just,
you know, a moment.
He got on Snapchat,
ordered a Percocet.
They brought it to his house,
gave it to him, and he died that night.
Because it was straight fentany.
That was the only thing in the system.
Yeah, same for my daughter.
They when they did the toxicolo,
there was so much in there thate
prosecutors thought it wasn't an error.
There was enough to kill,
I think three dozen people or me
like 2 years ago.
MESS was still number one.
But now mess is not even that.
It's just all fentanyl.
Lab tests now reveal 6 of 10
fake prescription pills flooding
our communities are laced with
a lethal dose of fentanyl.
100 times more powerful than morphine.
Just a small pinch hidden
inside can cause an overdose.
People here overdose,
and they picture someone in a
back alley with a needle hanging
out of their arm. You know,
dying because they took too much drugs.
This is a poisoning,
so it needs to be called what i.
This is the most serious threat
that we faced. And I've been
on with the DEA for 25 years.
DEA Special Agent Jacob Galvan
says the problem starts with drs
being shipped from China to Mex,
where the drug cartels then
flooded up the West Coast. All y
care about is making money.
They want to drive addiction.
The more people they can get addicted,
the more drugs that they can se.
And that's all they care about.
And they don't care who they ha.
They don't care who they kill.
But the poison pills keep comin.
The DEA says drug busts are up 146% today.
And last year in the Northwest alone,
agents seized 8.9 million
deadly doses of fentanyl.
So you've seized enough fentanyl to kill
every person in the state of Washington.
Yes, that's terrifying.
Yes, about that. And that's why
we need to get this message out,
he says. Schools play an importt
role in getting the message out there.
The Tahoma School District in
Maple Valley is one district
sounding the alarm to do more.
I'm seeing the families want education
because they're worried about their kids.
Liz Thilbert is the district's
new Wellness coordinator.
Her job is to connect the schoos
and city leaders to keep familis
on alert about the way one pilln
kill and streamline resources fr
mental health and substance abu.
Congressional leaders have also zeroed
in on this community to help prt
teens from making that one mist.
And staff in middle school and
high schools are fully stocked
and trained on how to use the
overdose reversing drug Narcan,
although it hasn't been needed .
We're going to work with parent.
We're going to work with our community
because this is a community iss.
It's not just the school or
community or parent, It's all os
together working to create chan.
Do you think the schools
are doing a good job?
I think they're starting to, yeah. And we
would always like to help them.
I think education
needs to start even as young as
middle school school and start
telling the kids about it right away.
Yeah, it needs to come from all directions.
And I think I'd personally like to see
a statewide mandated awareness campaign
start those conversations becaue
there are drug dealers in schoo.
What should they be watching fo?
And parents need
to know that it can happen
to them. Even if you're
a helicopter mom, your kid will still go
and experiment with drugs and
some of these kids are dying jut
from experimenting. One time 5
moms still struggling with the pain and
left wondering if change will ever come.
I want to help another family,
not go through what you
know we're going through.
I have to do something.