‘It can happen to anyone’ | Texas mother fights for change after Gov. Abbott vows to address fentanyl crisis

AUSTIN, Texas — One Austin mother defined how fentanyl doesn’t discriminate towards anybody. 

Stefanie Turner’s son, 19-year-old Tucker, died in 2021 after he took a capsule he purchased on social media. 

“It was my firstborn, my only boy. He was a light for sure. To know Tucker was to know love,” stated Turner. 

On Thursday, Gov. Greg Abbott outlined his emergency objects for the legislative session, together with a vow to fight the fentanyl crisis in Texas. Abbott advised growing punishments for these concerned in fentanyl-related deaths, together with boosting the availability of Narcan statewide.  

However, Turner stated she has been in her personal battle since her son’s loss. Turner has been making an attempt to attain out to faculty districts and legislators to give you a invoice that may educate kids on opioids. 

Turner additionally began the Texas Against Fentanyl organization quickly after Tucker’s loss of life in an effort to deliver consciousness and hope different households do not endure the identical destiny.

“Unfortunately, a large demographic are teenagers and young adults who who aren’t aware of what fentanyl is. There’s so many people right now that don’t even know what it is. They think it’s a pharmaceutical medication,” Turner stated. 

Steve White, division chief for the Austin-Travis County EMS, echoed Turner’s assertion in regards to the lack of training there’s when it comes to fentanyl. 

White defined how the county is increasing its Narcan distribution program, which is geared toward combatting the fentanyl crisis regionally by creating and distributing Narcan rescue kits. In 2022, greater than 500 kits had been handed out – which is a 50% enhance from final 12 months, in accordance to White. 

“Education is a really big part of this, this program, getting people to understand that fentanyl is in everything,” stated White. “The education piece that you can have an opioid overdose from just one pill or from any drug that you that you buy on the black market, that’s very important for people to understand so that they can protect themselves. If we had the legislation that allowed us to have fentanyl testing strips distributed, then people could test any drug for fentanyl prior to use.”

Organizations such because the Texas Harm Reduction Alliance, which offers companies to individuals who use medicine within the Austin space, additionally responded to the governor’s effort to cease the circulate of fentanyl.

Director of Organizing for the Texas Harm Reduction Alliance Paulette Soltani advised Abbott’s plan to prosecute folks “is not going to actually save lives in the state of Texas,” however fairly have an reverse impact. 

“The governor’s talking about drug induced homicide laws that would put people in prison, incarcerate and just further criminalize people around the overdose crisis,” Soltani stated. “There are solutions to this crisis and they’re proven, they’re backed by evidence. We see those solutions working in other states. But unfortunately, our governor just hasn’t come around to what those are.”

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