Home Local News OPIOID EPIDEMIC: Advocacy group aims to educate on fentanyl dangers in Richmond...

OPIOID EPIDEMIC: Advocacy group aims to educate on fentanyl dangers in Richmond County

Illegal possession of fentanyl will be a felony, pending Gov. Roy Cooper's signature of Senate Bill 321.
William R. Toler - Richmond Observer

ROCKINGHAM — Nearly two years after her son’s tragic death from fentanyl poisoning, Sheila Bostic is still warning and trying to educate about the dangers of the synthetic opioid.

Bostic’s advocacy group Darren’s Voice, named in honor of her late son, is teaming with Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina to host an event for families from 2-4 p.m. Feb. 24 at the Beaverdam Community Center, 945 Ledbetter Road, Rockingham.

The stated purpose of the event is to provide “educational advocacy and networking” for victims families and “(s)park public safety conversations within communities about the dangers of illicit fentanyl…and access to life-saving naloxone in schools and the community.”

Darren L. Bostic Jr. died on Feb. 25, 2022 after taking what he thought was a percocet, given to him by a friend, according to the website darrensvoice.net.

However, the website states, it was a pressed fentanyl pill designed to look like a percocet.

When Darren Bostic started having a reaction to the fentanyl after snorting half a pill, the website states, that friend took him home instead of seeking help — and Darren Bostic was found in his yard the next morning by his young daughter and fiancée.

Image courtesy Darren’s Voice

Five months before Darren’s death, the Drug Enforcement Administration issued an alert, warning of counterfeit prescription pills — made to look like oxycodone, hydrocodone, alprazolam (Xanax) and Adderall — containing fentanyl and methamphetamine, leading to the launch of the “One Pill Can Kill” public awareness campaign.

According to the DEA, 2mg of fentanyl is considered a fatal dose, and 70% of the counterfeit pills seized by the agency in 2023 contained the opioid.

Image courtesy DEA

In October, U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, both representing North Carolina, sent a letter to the DEA and Department of Homeland Security asking how the federal agencies were dealing with the issue.

Tillis and Budd, both Republicans, lay the blame at the border.

“Our nation is being poisoned by fentanyl and other deadly narcotics that are pouring in from our open border,” they said in the joint letter. “Families from all demographics are being impacted and losing loved ones daily.”

Click here to read more on that story from the Carolina Journal.

Sheila Bostic admits that her son was wrong for taking a pill that was not prescribed to him, “but that should not render the death penalty.”

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“That is what (people) are getting if they experiment with any street drug,” Bostic said. “Too many lives are being stolen, just like our Darren’s.”

Citing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the DEA says that more than 93,000 people died from drug overdoses nationwide in 2020, adding that fentanyl is “the primary driver of this alarming increase in overdose deaths.”

From November ‘22-October ‘23, Richmond County had a fentanyl-positive death rate of 88 — the highest in the state — with a total of 38, according to a report released Jan. 30 by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Several other counties in the region are in the top 10 with the highest rates: Rowan (68.2, 102 deaths); Robeson (67.7, 79 deaths); Montgomery (61.8, 16 deaths); Bladen (54.3, 16 deaths); and Scotland (52.7, 18 deaths).

Click here to read a story on overdose statistics published earlier this month.

The preliminary data from the OCME notes: “The detection of fentanyl only indicates deaths with positive fentanyl toxicology results. The
presence of fentanyl at time of death does not necessarily indicate fentanyl as the cause of death.”

Also on Saturday, the Rockingham Police Department and FirstHealth of the Carolinas are teaming up for a community event at Oak Ridge Baptist Church to bring awareness to the opioid epidemic. That event starts at noon.

“We have to get this message out,” Shelia Bostic said. “As long as people keep thinking that these are overdoses, they will continue thinking it is an addicts problem.

“But these fentanyl deaths are everyone’s problem.”



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Managing Editor William R. Toler is an award-winning writer and photographer with experience in print, television and online media.