Frisco to hold fentanyl awareness forum for Spanish-speaking community

Local and federal law enforcement will be holding an educational forum next week in Frisco to discuss the ongoing fentanyl crisis.

The community event will be unique in that it will offer educational information and testimony in Spanish.

Everyone is invited to attend the meeting on Wednesday, April 24, at Frisco High School, Spanish speakers are especially encouraged to take part in the discussion.

Parents who have lost children to the synthetic opioid will share their stories in hopes of preventing more deaths.

Frank Moreno of Fort Worth is among those invited to speak.

Moreno’s living room is largely dedicated to the memory of his firstborn, Sebastian Genisis Moreno.

“To me, 24 years wasn’t enough,” said Moreno. “Mijo [My son] was unique.”

Sebastian’s ashes are kept nearby in an ornate urn decorated with family pictures.

The Moreno’s tragedy began innocently enough during an ice storm in February 2022.

“He slipped and fell and he hurt his back,” said Moreno.

Sebastian powered through and went to work despite the pain.

It is there, Moreno says, where a friend gave him some oxycodone pills.

Sebastian took the bag of pills home and took half a pill in the garage where he played video games after work.

His mother, worried after not hearing from him for about two hours, walked out to their garage and found Sebastian unconscious.

“His hands were already turning blue,” recalls Moreno who ran outside after hearing his wife’s screams. “Both me and my older son were giving him CPR.”

Paramedics were delayed in responding to their home because of the icy conditions.

Despite two hours of life-saving efforts, it was too late.

Half of a pill that Sebastian reportedly believed was oxycodone was in reality a lethal dose of fentanyl.

It is a painful story Moreno has shared in public.

The family has joined other families impacted by fentanyl, erecting billboards with their children’s photographs in Iowa and New Mexico.

Moreno is eager to share his story next Wednesday evening in Frisco before an audience of Spanish speakers.

The event is called United Against Fentanyl.

The free community forum will take place April 24, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Frisco High School’s auditorium.

The event is a partnership between Frisco Police and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.

Special Agent in Charge Eduardo Chavez leads the Dallas Field Division of the DEA.

Chavez applauds the police department for its ‘proactive approach’ to the crisis that is affecting all communities.

Chavez will address the crowd in English and Spanish, hoping to dispel myths about the opioid and who it is impacting.

“There’s still a little bit of stigma that it can’t happen to you,” said Chavez. “It’s a very indiscriminate killer. We’ve seen anywhere from gated communities affected by this poison and for us it is simply getting past 'it’s someone else’s problem.' It’s all of ours.”

Moreno says it’s important for him to share his story as a father, to show it can happen to close-knit families all the same.

“Sebastian, he didn’t come from a broken home. We’re a Christian family,” he said. “People need to know this hits everybody.”

Chavez says it has been challenging reaching the Latino community, perhaps due to language barriers.

Moreno agrees.

Many Hispanic families tend to shy away from being active participants in community forums.

“A lot of times our people, they just ignore everything,” he said. “This is affecting us tambien [also in Spanish].”

Moreno says the loss has hit his family in different ways and at different times.

His older son has made it a habit of buying red roses for his brother’s memorial as soon as he gets paid.

His wife who named Sebastian after her mother Sebastiana has taken the loss especially hard.

Their birthdays in March were just days apart.

Moreno says he got to choose the middle name Genesis, “because he was going to put our name on the map. I didn’t know it was going to be like this.”