"War+Epidemic=Grieving Families"
November 1, 2025
Before I start off this blog, this is in memory and dedication of 2 men I knew that were part of me and my wife's lives/family. These two men are loved and missed greatly by everyone they have come across.
This one is for you Daveon and Kenny.
No way out and the feeling of not knowing how to take away the pain you deal with on a day to day basis where the trials, thoughts, and worries appear. You are left with taking chances that don't align with how your family and close ones would view you but you are left with this pain that no one can seem to see deep down you. You end up taking the same pills that have caused others to be a memory to their loved ones, you go blind to the thought of what you are taking could be your last, and all along your family just wants you to be here with them. I tried my best in the time of remembering both of these young men what they may have been going through at those times when the feeling of doubt and guilt comes along. There are a lot of questions that can never be fully answered without those two here. The last time I saw you both is a mental image that is struck with me. Just as I have been reading on the countless lives that fentanyl has taken too soon, too young and too often in silence without warning I’m reminded that every statistic is a name, a face, and a story unfinished. May this story and others alike have an effect that prevents more families from experiencing the same grief and sparks conversations that lead to solutions. There is a lot more I would like to add to this post that we can touch on, with so many clear facts on how it started, how we got here, where do we go from this war, the solutions, and the hidden plots. Only by understanding the pain, the struggles, and the systems that allowed it to grow can we begin to see a path toward meaningful change, where prevention, healing, and hope take the place of silence, stigma, and loss.
You see the headlines, the statistics scrolling by on the news: “Fentanyl Tainted Pills Bought on Social Media Cause Youth Drug Deaths to Soar,” “Fentanyl Crisis Deepens.” It’s easy to become numb or not pay attention to the numbers until it's someone in your family or the bad news you hear in your circle of friends. But behind every number is a name. A story. A family that has had a hole torn right through its center.
This isn't just a public health issue it’s a human crisis, a social emergency, and a test of our collective compassion unfolding in our neighborhoods. And to understand how we got here, we need to look at it for what it is, a brutal war fought on the battleground of a pre-existing epidemic. If you Google the Fentanyl crisis you get tons of articles that could take you a day or more to read and better understand why this is war for our family and friends, but not talking in the sense murder or violence more so the mental brain and spiritually and the so call synthetic opioid: fentanyl. Fentanyl is an opioid many times more potent than heroin or morphine. Just a tiny dose can be fatal. We know Fentanyl is used for legal reasons as in the professional medical field originally developed for used as anesthesia and to manage severe pain management, it is now increasingly found in counterfeit pills and mixed with other illicit substances. Often, people don’t even know they are taking fentanyl until it’s too late. This has led to an alarming surge in overdose deaths, making fentanyl one of the leading drivers of the opioid crisis.
The way my thought process works while writing this article begs the question why do people use it and why risk your life on using something that does not benefit you in health, mental or making a change towards the greater good in your life? More questions come to mind however Google and AI can't provide an answer this is bigger than search results or algorithms and data, it’s a crisis of compassion, responsibility, and humanity. I don't have the answers now rather I say seeking the answers would be war against the problems deep down inside within the individuals that have lost their lives to this battle. The fentanyl crisis is the symptom of deeper, more profound wounds in our society. People turn to fentanyl or fentanyl-laced drugs for many reasons but the main reason we have acknowledged is pain, better yet physical pain. Some begin with legitimate prescriptions for chronic pain, only to spiral into dependency. There are other reasons also from stress, unemployment, and lack of support that can create conditions where drugs feel like the only option. Anxiety, trauma, and depression often push people toward substances as a form of escape. One of the final reasons would be many users believe they are buying less dangerous substances, not realizing they are laced with fentanyl. Then there are those users who know their drugs are laced with fentanyl and they are so deep in this condition of taking the dangerous risk due to their addiction. This epidemic isn’t a story of moral weakness, it’s a story of people trapped in systems and life that fail to offer hope, healing, or real alternatives.
There are key steps that could help turn the tide and there isn't a single solution that can be applied to this crisis. If you were to dig deeper into this war, what you would find is more than what you seen on news articles and more so how this war market (fentanyl) is about money and who benefits from this, is a question that has an answer I will not get into due to we all knowing this fentanyl is not produced here in America. You hit the search button on where this drug comes from and you will see a different area that definitely isn't a state or city within the U.S. It's up to the people how it has always been to find the solution and has always been like this. As a family we must reach out to others and ask the big questions mentally. If you see something wrong with a close friend or family member ask questions to how you view what they may be possibly going through at these times. Here are a couple more steps for the road ahead. Addressing the root causes trauma, stress, untreated mental illness can reduce the demand for dangerous substances in the first place. Public health campaigns must highlight the dangers of fentanyl, especially among young people who may unknowingly consume it. Acknowledging the struggles can save lives. Understanding that so much addiction begins with unaddressed trauma. Wider distribution of naloxone (an overdose-reversal drug) and fentanyl test strips can provide immediate, practical ways to prevent deaths. Making it known to everyone that the risk is high and more than likely leads to death. The facts remain facts that if you are taking fentanyl or counterfeit pills it's not an answer if you will survive but more so when it will be your last day. You get one life and there isn't a reset button.
The fentanyl epidemic is not just a matter of public health it is a matter of human dignity. Every life lost is a story unfinished, a family grieving, a community diminished. The war on fentanyl is not only about fighting a drug, it’s about fighting despair, untreated trauma, abuse of painkillers, and neglect. It starts by seeing the people behind the statistics and having the courage to try solutions that actually work. The goal is not a drug-free society due what we have experience in the last 40 years or more, but one where our family members, friends, and children don't die from a single pill or a single dose, and where families are no longer left to grieve a loss that was entirely preventable. War (a poisoned drug supply) + Epidemic (of despair and addiction) = Grieving Families.