North Texas group calls on creation of task force, database in effort to reduce fentanyl poisonings
FARMERS BRANCH, Texas (CBSNewsTexas.com) – Local Hispanic leaders are sounding an alarm that the current fentanyl crisis in North Texas could become as devastating as another deadly drug trend from the past.
Some might remember the black tar cheese heroin overdoses across DFW between 2005 and 2010 that left as many as 37 young people dead, a number of those Hispanic.
Lilia Astrudillo poured her broken heart out in front of the Farmers Branch Police Department about the weeks of failed efforts to get hospitals, law enforcement agencies and drug treatment centers to take in her 14-year-old son Beto before he died of fentanyl poisoning.
"They kind of said we can't do anything, we can't do anything," said Carlos Quintanilla with Accion America. "Eventually in January after school vacation, she noticed drastic changes in her son and then two weeks later he died."
The last weeks of Beto's life are similar to what Leticia Cano says she's going through with her 14-year-old son who she suspects is also using drugs.
"He's completely different," Cano said. "He's changed drastically in one month."
Before lighting candles and releasing balloons to honor the three Carollton-Farmers Branch ISD students who have died from taking pills containing fentanyl in recent months, the head of Accion America called for school districts to offer parents free drug testing of their children.
Also, the creation of a database to track overdoses. They hope those efforts keep fentanyl from becoming as deadly as the early 2000s black tar cheese heroin trend that quietly took lives of more than 30 Dallas area kids before getting public attention.
"Today we are going to send a message, a very important and clear message to drug dealers who are killing our children that we are declaring war against them," Quintanilla said.
Hispanic leaders say many families in their community simply don't have the money to drug test their kids.
They want a task force created and school districts to take the lead like they did to stop black tar cheese heroin when it was a major problem here.