As the number of overdose deaths from illegal drugs in the U.S. continues to rise, NBC Montana’s Kylie Gibson talked to a mother whose life will never be the same because of a dangerous fake situation.
We hear a lot about fentanyl: how dangerous it is, how to stay away from it, and how quickly it kills. But what we don’t hear as much about is how these fatal overdoses affect families.
“Many people in my small town have died because of one distributor. My daughter was one of them.”
Andrea Thomas says that her daughter Ashely Romero is a wonderful mother, daughter, sister, granddaughter, and friend to many. She is 32 years old.
Ashley Romero, unfortunately, died in 2018 after taking half of a fake pill that had a lethal amount of fentanyl in it.
The day Ashley died, Thomas said, “I remember sitting at my kitchen table with my husband and being shocked that my daughter had died from a half of a pill. How is that even real?”
Thomas knew she didn’t want another family to go through the pain she did after her daughter died, so she did something about it.
“In 2018, I didn’t know anything about fentanyl. But like most parents who lose a child to drugs, we learn a lot about them,” Thomas said.
Thomas started a foundation in Grand Junction, Colorado, called Voices for Awareness. It is a non-profit group.
It raises knowledge about fake drugs, illegal fentanyl, and self-harm. The goal is to teach people about illegal fentanyl, which is in most street drugs today.
“If I didn’t know about fentanyl, how many other families don’t?” “So really, families like mine who talk about how terrible fentanyl is for our own just want to help save other families,” Thomas said.
Thomas also started a program called Project Facing Fentanyl. This is where National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day is held every year. It is backed by families and other non-profits that help spread the word about fentanyl.
Thomas wouldn’t let her daughter’s life be lost or become just another number.
“We need to remember that each voice on those lists was a loved one, and that so many more are hurt.” There are consequences for this, and now that the numbers are so high, we want people to remember that these are our family members and we can’t take anything back, Thomas said.
The person who sold the dangerous fentanyl pill that killed Thomas’ daughter Ashley got a life sentence in Colorado for doing so while breaking the law.
