The DEA is working to raise awareness of the dangers of fentanyl after a North Texas family lost their teenage son in early February. NBC 5’s David Goins has more.
The Dallas office of the DEA said the work to raise awareness of the dangers of fentanyl continues.
This came after a North Texas family spoke out on the sudden loss of their teenage son.
The past tense will never fit for a parent describing their child. Robbie Stovall said every part of his son Chance still feels so present.
“He was full of joy, always happy, just very athletic, very outgoing,” Stovall said.
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“Seeing photos of my son, walking into his room, and he’s not there. It’s heart-wrenching.”
Stovall and his wife lost their oldest child just 10 days ago. The father of three said the hospital where Chance was rushed on Feb. 1 said the high school junior died from fentanyl poisoning.
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“You know that nationwide has a problem, but you don’t know how big of a problem until it personally affects you,” Stovall said.
Eduardo Chavez is special agent in charge of DEA Dallas
“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug I have seen in my career,”
Chavez said more in North Texas know about the drug’s lethality, but the packaging of fentanyl, in a form that may look like something else, continues to concern law enforcement.
“Pills and tablets are very disarming to our society,” Chavez said.
There have been several high-profile arrests and convictions in recent months of North Texas dealers selling fentanyl-laced pills to middle and high-school-aged students.
“It’s in every school, it’s in every neighborhood,” Chavez said.
Stovall said he doesn’t know how his son got a hold of a pill laced with fentanyl but thinks he was simply experimenting. A mistake he said his son will never get to learn from.
He hopes sharing his family’s grief and Chance’s story will help save at least one life.
“If it takes losing my son to help another family, right now, that’s what we have to do,” Stovall said.
WHAT IS FENTANYL?
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. Just two milligrams of fentanyl, which is equal to 10-15 grains of table salt, is considered a lethal dose.
Without laboratory testing, there is no way to know how much fentanyl is concentrated in a pill or powder. If you encounter fentanyl in any form, do not handle it and call 911 immediately.
Fentanyl remains the deadliest drug threat facing this country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 107,622 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2021, with 66% of those deaths related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
Drug poisonings are the leading killer of Americans between the ages of 18 and 45. Fentanyl available in the United States is primarily supplied by two criminal drug networks, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
WHAT IS RAINBOW FENTANYL?
In August 2022 the Drug Enforcement Administration issued a public advisory about the alarming emerging trend of colorful fentanyl available nationwide.
Brightly-colored fentanyl, dubbed "rainbow fentanyl" in the media, is being seized in multiple forms, including pills, powder, and blocks that resemble sidewalk chalk.
“Rainbow fentanyl—fentanyl pills and powder that come in a variety of bright colors, shapes, and sizes—is a deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram. “The men and women of the DEA are relentlessly working to stop the trafficking of rainbow fentanyl and defeat the Mexican drug cartels that are responsible for the vast majority of the fentanyl that is being trafficked in the United States.”
Despite claims that certain colors may be more potent than others, there is no indication through DEA’s laboratory testing that this is the case. The DEA said every color, shape, and size of fentanyl should be considered extremely dangerous.
