Families of North Texas fentanyl victims pay out of pocket for public awareness campaign: "Nobody warned us"
NORTH RICHLAND HILLS (CBSNewsTexas.com) — It has been more than a year since Shannon Chapman lost her 22-year-old daughter, Bailey, to fentanyl.
"She was a mom of my beautiful granddaughter, Allie," she shared.
Chapman is among a group of North Texas parents who have lost children to the drug and are paying out of their own pockets for a public awareness campaign.
"There is no public awareness," she said. "If it wasn't for this group and all the other groups on Facebook on fentanyl awareness, there would not be awareness...the government's not doing anything."
With the hope of sparing others from going through what they have, the families of 24 victims gathered in North Richland Hills next to a billboard they contributed $70 each to.
"Nobody warned us about this danger. We had no signs like this when our kids passed away, we didn't have no idea about fentanyl," said Offie Moreno.
Her late son, Sebastian, is behind the campaign called "Bash'en Fentanyl," which involves two digital billboards in the Mid-Cities.
"They categorize them as drug addicts, but when they see these young beautiful faces, they realize that this could happen to anybody," Moreno said.
A-soon-to-be released documentary called "Fentanyl Unlimited" is also trying to bring more attention to the drug through profiling Texas victims, and taking a critical look at how lapses at the Texas/Mexico border are allowing fentanyl to enter the US.
"The drug cartels from Mexico, I mean they control the border," said documentary director Charlie Minn. "Let's get real about this. To me, there is no border. It's so loose, just about anybody can get in sneak in."
Minn agrees with these families that too many people are unaware of the risks fentanyl poses to unsuspecting young people.
"We need more social programs, we need more education, we need more fentanyl awareness," he said. "We need Narcan to be possessed by just about everyone."
The documentary "Fentanyl Unlimited" plays at Look Cinema on Northwest Highway in Dallas on Wednesday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. For more info, click here.
