Good evening. Mia Gradney here,
along with Jeremy Ragowski and
the KHOU 11 News Studio catching
up about this new documentary,
A very powerful piece of work,
One pill fighting fentanyl.
This has been a project you
worked on for several months.
I want to take us back though.
Jeremy, how much did you know at
this drug and its impact before you got
started as a journalist? Sure. .
I saw the headlines. You know,
we've covered this from time to time.
But when you really take a deepe
into this issue and you Start learning
the hard facts and you start tag
to the parents who've been affe,
whose lives were torn apart,
who lost their loved ones,
that's when it really started to sink in.
Particularly as a father.
I'm a dad of two teenage boys and the
families I was speaking to lost sons and
daughters the very same age as my own.
And I think that's really the
scary part about this drug is.
The deaths that we're seeing
are in people who are so young.
They are and and you know some
fast facts about fentanyl when
you're talking the potency of t,
50 times stronger than heroin,
100 times stronger than morphin.
And and and the key here as
as we've been saying Mia,
is that these drug traffickers,
they're deceptive.
So they're mixing this fentanyl
powder in depressed pills that .
Nearly identical to a Xanax or a
Percocet or an Oxy or an Addera.
A lot of drugs that younger people are
taking and they're flooding social media.
The problem is you don't
know what you're getting,
so you think you're getting one thing,
but these are fake pills and
they are fatal pills too often.
So kids get online, they think they're
buying one drug and they're acty
getting fentanyl or some dose or
version of this drug mixed with fentanyl.
And you got to remember, these s
are being mixed in clandestine .
You know, there's no quality control.
There's no standards or
accuracy or precision.
We're talking about bathtubs and
back alleys and basements where
they're concocting these drugs,.
You know, one batch may not hav,
you know, fentanyl lethal dose,
but the next would.
In fact, the DEA, you know,
all the pills they confiscate,
they test them and 60% are coming back
with a potentially lethal dose that is,
you know, not only Russian roul,
it's actually worse than Russian roulette.
It's worse than a coin flip
that you may take a pill.
And you may not wake up.
That's
why this project is so importan,
raising and increasing awarenes.
I asked you at the beginning how
much you knew about fentanyl.
What about these families that
you came across who have been
gravely impacted by this drug?
Pretty much across the board.
They didn't know either.
You know, they may have heard o.
It's gotten a lot of coverage, right?
But, you know, they it really kind of.
Took them from a surprise and then obviously
hit them over the head like a 2 by 4.
And they're like, what happened here?
Some of them had experimented with pills.
Some of them had entrees
and dabbled into marriage.
You're talking about parents or the kids?
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you for the clarification.
And these are good homes with loving parents.
Who? You know,
we're concerned when an issue
popped up and did the right thi,
you know, got their kids counse,
talk to them, so on and so fort.
And then all of a sudden one
day they either get a phone call
or in a in a very grave case,
they walked up to their son's bedroom,
yelled his name,
He didn't answer and found him ice cold,
lifeless in bed.
That young man was 14 years old.
Oh my goodness, far too young,
Far too young. And just one of
the many victims of this drug,
there really is a war against
it now and an increasing fight.
And leading that fight are the parents.
Absolutely.
And you know their stories are are raw.
They're real and and sometimes
they're quite uncomfortable, frankly,
they're they're a little bit in your face.
And when you talk to these folk,
you're like, why are you,
why are you sharing these stori?
You know, why are you sharing your most?
Personally,
your most difficult moments in ,
they're like it's to wake peopl.
Every parent I've talked to
has a resounding message me,
and it's one that really hit home with me.
They say we weren't able to save our kids,
but maybe by speaking out
and spreading the word,
maybe we can save yours.
The strength and courage that it
takes to do that I can't imagin,
but it's it's very admirable and
they're united in this fight.
It is very admirable considerinl
that they've been through and te
grieving that they still do eacd
every day with a death of this nature.
They've turned their pain into a passion
and they found purpose in their pain.
And that passion really again,
is to spread the word and to rae
awareness because they're of the mindset.
If they can save just one life
in their sons or daughters,
honor that they lost, that's a positive.
This is very raw for them.
You know, I've known you for
so many years now, decades,
and I've watched your work and I
think the thing that really caut
my attention with this project,
obviously that rawness from the families.
But you in recording and talking about
this project, saying this scare.
And I thought to myself, wait a minute,
this this is serious because I t
often hear those words coming ot
of your mouth with these storie.
Listen, we were all.
Young and dumb, right?
We all made mistakes at
some point in our lives.
I I will raise my the 1st is raise my hand.
Here's the difference with fent.
You know kids are supposed to be
able to learn from their mistak,
but when you're talking the lethality of
this and that 60% maybe a lethal dose,
you don't get to learn from your steaks,
from your mistakes.
With fentanyl, you know people are dying from
them and they're dying in record numbers.
And I think that is, again,
a dad of two teenage boys.
Is what really hit home that you know,
we all are going to make mistak,
but we should be able to learn from them.
Absolutely.
And there's very much a predator and a
threat out there in the form of these
drug dealers who are going to sl
media and where our kids live t.
This is prolific on social media
and you raise a good point because we asked
the question if these dealers know that
their product is killing their clients then.
The next logical question is why
keep pushing it? Why keep selling it?
And we talked a lot of folks from parents,
from narcotics detectives,
and the answer is pretty clear MONEY.
The bottom line for these drug
traffickers is the bottom line.
They're making so much money and they
know that this drug if they don.
Pass away from it.
It's super highly addictive.
They'll keep coming back and if
somebody does die from it, well,
they'll just find another clien.
And that sounds so crude and cas
and cold, but it's the truth.
And so that's what keeps driving
this crisis and that's why awars
is so critical.
Two months investigating this.
I know you talked to families,
you talked to investigators.
What else will we hear in this documentary?
So obviously there's a push at e
state Capitol to toughen some laws and
to tackle this head on what we ,
you know, go over those and where they
stand and and how lawmakers are trying
to move the needle in this figh.
And we talked to several groupsf
parents who are making a differ.
In their own way, one that stris
me is a moving exhibit called te
Texas Memorial Walkway where ag,
it's it's in your face and it'sa
traveling think of the Vietnam Memorial
scaled down and they built this from the
ground up and and their messages again,
folks, this can happen to anybo.
So many of these parents me are
saying never say not my child,
never say it can't happen to me,
it can't happen to my family.
It can and it sounds like shock
therapy in a way.
And these parents are like,
listen, it is because we're livg
it and it's a nightmare.
They do not wish upon anybody
advice to parents who haven't td
to their kids about this or you know,
how do you move forward with this with kids,
grab their phone, have a conversation.
Online right now you know these
drug selling going on they often
talk in code and cryptic langua.
We help you decode the emojis that that
may be going on and and shoot straight.
This is what I did with my own
kids you know shoot straight and
have them watch this and see wht
impacts them and and really just
have a heart to heart that's ths
there's there's no magic recipe here.
But the thing I want to leave you with
is don't do it tomorrow or the t
day or put it off to the next w.
Have that conversation now. Do
it now. And don't think not my .
It's the big take away.
Jeremy Ragowski, thank you so m.
One pill fighting fentanyl
now streaming on khou.com and
also on the KHOU 11 Plus app.
It is must see programming.
Thanks so much and have a good night.