By David O’Brien, MD
There’s a lot of press highlighting the fentanyl crisis, smuggled into the US, killing thousands of people, especially those dependent or addicted to opioids. While this is painfully true, these are not the only citizens who are being poisoned and killed by this drug.
This is my son’s story. He was the third of four siblings, including his two older brothers and younger sister, all born within four years. Growing up, he was a bit of a wild card, every day you didn’t know what you were going to get with him. He was an outdoorsman who loved to rock climb, mountain bike, fish, skateboard, ski, etc. He had daredevil traits and loved trying new things outside the norm. He’s the type of kid who would jump from dangerously high areas simply because nobody else had the courage to do it. His brother recalls him climbing onto the roof of our garage and then jumping down, with ease. If a spider monkey was a person, it would be him. We were fortunate to have many family vacations with our children. He was the comedian who would crack the funniest jokes, leaving the room out of breath.
In later years, not unlike many teens and young adults, when he went off to college, he got introduced to marijuana. Over the following years, we would not infrequently catch him with marijuana, gummies, or vape pens. This contributed to his doing poor his freshman year in college and subsequently moving home to attend community college. We live in a state where marijuana is illegal and as parents, despite trying to set rules and boundaries for our home, we had a difficult time with him using marijuana products. When using, his personality turned confrontational, defiant, and he was not himself. Despite our best efforts to teach him about the adverse consequences that can result mentally, psychologically, and legally with using — including the “lacing” with other drugs such as fentanyl — the fact that cannabis is legal in so many states was his excuse to shrug-off our concerns. The legalization of recreational marijuana in so many states made it difficult to convince him of the pitfalls associated with its use.
During the last 6-8 months of his life, he started to do better. He was working part-time jobs, saving money, and doing much better in school. He was spending a lot of time in the gym. Physically he was in the best shape of his life.
That all quickly came to an end.
While on our way home from a trip, my wife talked to our son, and everything seemed fine. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. We arrived home around midnight; his bedroom door was closed which was typical. We assumed he was asleep.
When he did not get up as usual the next morning, my wife went to check on him. He had obviously passed away in his sleep many hours prior, likely not long after we had arrived home.
The police arrived, examined his room, and found nothing unusual from their perspective. They implied that his death was likely due to an underlying medical condition that had never been diagnosed. This was despite that fact that there was a vape pen sitting on his bed stand. I asked why they would not take the pen as evidence and test it for drugs, specifically mentioning the possibility that it could be spiked with illicit fentanyl, which had been on the news a lot. The officers reassured us that there was no reason to believe vaping was related to his death and specifically indicated they had never found fentanyl in such products. Fortunately, I saved the device in a plastic bag as I knew there were only three explanations for my son’s death and suicide was obviously not a concern. That left the possibility of an overdose or a fatal, unknown medical condition.
Months after my son’s death, based on the toxicology and tests results, the police started their investigation. We were able to open his cell phone and see his texts with the “dealer” who he had enquired about buying some marijuana—he indicated he only had marijuana vape-cartridges. It was obvious, per his texts, that our son believed he was purchasing a legitimate marijuana pen. What he bought was either a counterfeit Cookies brand marijuana device, made in California, poisoned with fentanyl, or a legitimate device that had been tampered with. Unfortunately, the dealer likely used a burner phone, and the police could never find him, and they just recently closed their investigation.
To our knowledge, our son had never used opioids and we never had any reason to think otherwise. The medical examiner told me that he was likely “opioid naive” since the fentanyl levels found in his blood were in a low toxic range which would not typically cause an overdose in someone who was using or dependent on opioids. The examiner also confirmed that due to its chemical structure, it was illicit fentanyl, the same stuff that was coming across the southern border that killed him.
I later learned my son was not the first to die of fentanyl poisoning from a vape pen. In September 2019, the Drug Enforcement Agency in San Diego was contacted by local law enforcement regarding a suspected overdose due to fentanyl. It was later confirmed that the death was due to a vaping pen laced with illicit fentanyl. Since that time, other similar incidents have been reported.
If our son had passed away due to an undiagnosed medical condition, such as a brain aneurysm or heart condition, at least our family could have some closure. Knowing he is listed as just another overdose, not as someone who was poisoned and killed, and that those responsible for his death are never going to be held accountable, does not provide any closure for us. A few months after his death, not far from where we live, detectives arrested a repeat felon and seized over $2.5 million of fentanyl, enough to kill five million people. There have been similar arrests since.
We may have an opioid crisis in this country, but our son’s death is the result of illicit fentanyl pouring into our country. This is killing tens of thousands of unsuspecting people each year, including 20 high school students every week who had no idea, like my son, that they were ingesting poison. Although we can speculate as to the motives behind these poisonings, the fact is, until our government starts to really address this crisis including dramatically increasing the punishments related to this drug, many more lives will be lost. Illicit fentanyl is so potent and deadly, it should be listed as a weapon of mass destruction and the penalties should reflect this.
This is a non-partisan crisis that does not discriminate in killing.
As my oldest son older quoted at his brother’s funeral, “The biggest mistake we make in our life is thinking we have more time. We all tend to think tomorrow is a guaranteed opportunity to make up for the losses of today. It’s not. Our brother went to bed one night, expecting to wake up the next morning and get right after it. But God had a different plan. Nothing in life, not even life itself, is guaranteed.”
Until Congress passes laws that will be enforced to make the punishment fit the crime so suppliers, smugglers, and dealers decide it’s not worth it, thousands will continue to die every month. We hope our son’s story will help United Against Fentanyl and other related organizations to educate further and increase public awareness of this issue and, more importantly, save lives.
-D.O.
