Dave McCormick focuses on fentanyl during Pittsburgh round table
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Nearly two months before Election Day, Senate Republican candidate Dave McCormick is putting a focus on the opioid epidemic and held a round table in Squirrel Hill on Friday.
McCormick listened to three stories from grieving parents whose loved ones died from fentanyl overdoses in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Roseanne Debruyn's son Michael died in the Irwin area at age 26.
"All of these cops surrounding me, and they said, 'Ma'am you can't go up there, ma'am you don't want to go up there,'" Debruyn said.
Diana Estep of New Martinsville, West Virginia, also talked about her son Drew, who died at 24.
"Sadly, he had been alone in his apartment for four days and nobody knew," Estep said.
Then there was Michael Cole of Morgantown, West Virginia whose daughter Lauren died at 26.
"I picked her up, laid her on the ground, tried to give her CPR, and I was too late," Cole said.
They all wanted McCormick to understand the real impact of the crisis.
"I know it's got so much human heartache, and there's so much complexity to it, and I know it doesn't lend itself to, you know, easy political answers," McCormick said.
They also discussed what needs to change, with hopes to bring more awareness with a program in high schools.
Greg Swan started a group called Fentanyl Fathers to bring awareness to the problem.
"We need to let these kids know, eight out of 10 times you have anything with fentanyl in it, you're gone," Swan said.
State data shows more than 4,000 deaths in 2022 in Pennsylvania were related to fentanyl, and the issue is ongoing.
"This problem isn't happening under bridges and in streets. This is happening in our homes, our schools, in our workplaces, so we need to open our eyes," Cole said.
McCormick said if he were elected, domestically he would tackle the epidemic with education, but federally he would work to stop the flow of illegal fentanyl from China and Mexico to our country, and he wants to do that militarily.
"I think we should think about using drones and special operations forces to essentially destroy the fentanyl facilities and the distribution network that's right on the border," McCormick said.
A spokesperson for his Democratic opponent, incumbent Sen. Bob Casey provided a statement to KDKA, saying in part the senator "is working hand in hand with law enforcement to stop the flow of fentanyl, and has passed bipartisan legislation to sanction Chinese fentanyl producers."