{"id":18649,"date":"2025-01-26T18:45:23","date_gmt":"2025-01-26T17:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=18649"},"modified":"2025-05-20T19:06:33","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T18:06:33","slug":"texas-mom-who-lost-son-not-backing-down-in-fight-for-fentanyl-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2025\/01\/texas-mom-who-lost-son-not-backing-down-in-fight-for-fentanyl-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas mom who lost son \u2018not backing down\u2019 in fight for fentanyl education"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"site-content__header \">\n<header class=\"article-header \" data-component=\"articleHeader\">\n<div class=\"article-container site-content__layout\">\n<div class=\"article-info\">\n<div class=\"article-eyebrow\">Newsmaker Interviews by: Gracie Kirschner, John Thomas &#8211; Sep 29, 2024<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\n\t\tsite-content__layout site-content__layout--has-sidebar\t\"><\/p>\n<div id=\"primary\" class=\"content-area\"><main id=\"main\" class=\"site-main\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"article post-2427457 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-fentanyl-crisis category-news category-newsmaker-interviews category-texas category-texas-politics category-top-stories\" data-component=\"article\">\n<div class=\"article-lead-share\">\n<div class=\"social-share icons\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-content article-body rich-text \">\n<p>AUSTIN (Nexstar) \u2013 Fentanyl poisonings continue to kill thousands of people across Texas. But the\u00a0latest statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u00a0show an encouraging sign. The numbers show a slight decrease in deaths in Texas, mirroring a nationwide decline that started showing up earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p>Part of the credit for the decline can be attributed to increased awareness of the dangers of the drug, DEA officials say.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Texas took a new step towards fentanyl awareness when Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill known as Tucker\u2019s Law that requires school districts to educate students in grades 6-12 about the drug. The bill is named after Tucker Roe, a 19 year old who died from fentanyl poisoning.<\/p>\n<p>His mom, Stefanie Roe, helped push for the legislation. She founded the nonprofit\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/txaf.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Texas Against Fentanyl<\/a>\u00a0after Tucker\u2019s death. Tucker was Stefanie\u2019s firstborn and only son.<\/p>\n<div class=\"nlp-ignore-block article-content rich-text\">\n<aside class=\"promo-link\">INVESTIGATION: A Leander family says fentanyl killed their son. Now, they demand changes at all schools<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cHe was born with just an adventurous little spirit, a lover of people, and just a real light in our family and in others,\u201d Roe said.<\/p>\n<p>After she lost her son in 2021, Stefanie founded Texas Against Fentanyl, a 501C3 founded to increase awareness, support and legislation surrounding the drug.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\">\n<div class=\"ad-unit__content\">\n<div id=\"acm-ad-tag-mr1_ab-mr1_ab\" data-slot=\"{&quot;is_oop&quot;:false,&quot;is_companion&quot;:true,&quot;sizes&quot;:[[[1280,0],[[300,250],[620,366]]],[[1024,0],[[300,250],[620,366]]],[[768,0],[[300,250],[325,204],[325,508]]],[[641,0],[[300,250],[325,204],[325,508]]],[[0,0],[[300,250],[325,204],[325,508]]]],&quot;size&quot;:[300,250]}\" data-unit=\"\/5678\/lin.kxan\/state_of_texas\/newsmaker_interviews\" data-fbonly=\"false\" data-refids=\"\" data-not-refids=\"\" data-targeting=\"{&quot;kw&quot;:&quot;texas-mom-who-lost-son-not-backing-down-in-fight-for-fentanyl-education&quot;,&quot;pos&quot;:&quot;mr1_ab&quot;,&quot;fold&quot;:&quot;atf&quot;,&quot;category&quot;:&quot;newsmaker_interviews&quot;}\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cIn 2021 when I lost Tucker, I had no knowledge of illicit fentanyl. I had never heard of press pills. I did not know that teens were selling to teens, and seven out of 10 pills were lethal. And as a mom, that just struck me that I didn\u2019t have the information to safeguard my son and give him knowledge of that poison,\u201d Roe said.<\/p>\n<p>Tucker\u2019s Law took effect last year. Since then, Roe says schools have reached out to Texas Against Fentanyl to organize assemblies and bring in the\u00a0Tucker Project\u00a0to their school programming. Roe believes that knowledge about the drug is essential to save lives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf a student understands that, this is what it looks like. You can\u2019t see it, you can\u2019t taste it, you can\u2019t smell it. It can be added to these things. This is the impact it has on the body. It\u2019s not a just say no campaign. It\u2019s to get educated so you can make better decisions,\u201d Roe said.<\/p>\n<p>Roe said there has been some confusion over how to teach the topic calling it an \u201cunfunded mandate\u201d for schools. She said Texas Against Fentanyl has been developing a curriculum alongside the Texas Education Agency to help schools.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\">\n<div class=\"ad-unit__content\">\n<div id=\"acm-ad-tag-mr2_ab-mr2_ab\" data-slot=\"{&quot;is_oop&quot;:false,&quot;is_companion&quot;:true,&quot;sizes&quot;:[[[1280,0],[[300,250],[620,366]]],[[1024,0],[[300,250],[620,366]]],[[768,0],[[300,250],[325,204],[325,508]]],[[641,0],[[300,250],[325,204],[325,508]]],[[0,0],[[300,250],[325,204],[325,508]]]],&quot;size&quot;:[300,250]}\" data-unit=\"\/5678\/lin.kxan\/state_of_texas\/newsmaker_interviews\" data-fbonly=\"false\" data-refids=\"\" data-not-refids=\"\" data-targeting=\"{&quot;kw&quot;:&quot;texas-mom-who-lost-son-not-backing-down-in-fight-for-fentanyl-education&quot;,&quot;pos&quot;:&quot;mr2_ab&quot;,&quot;fold&quot;:&quot;atf&quot;,&quot;category&quot;:&quot;newsmaker_interviews&quot;}\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>With the next legislative session looming in January, Roe said there are changes to be made. She plans to push lawmakers to make improvements to Tucker\u2019s Law along with implementing new legislation to improve testing at hospitals to increase accurate reporting on fentanyl deaths.<\/p>\n<p>Roe said her group is also working to decriminalize fentanyl test strips. The test strips allow people to detect whether fentanyl is in the drugs they use. Texas is one of a few states where the strips are illegal, considered to be drug paraphernalia. Last session, a bill to decriminalize test strips passed the Texas House but failed to advance in the Senate.<\/p>\n<p>Roe said Texas Against Fentanyl is relentless and will pull every stop to get legislation passed to help save lives.\u00a0She compares the group to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which leveraged the power of parents to make significant policy changes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re mad moms who have lost our children to something that we did not have education on, and we\u2019re not backing down,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>Source: https:\/\/www.kxan.com\/state-of-texas\/newsmaker-interviews\/texas-mom-who-lost-son-not-backing-down-in-fight-for-fentanyl-education\/<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/main><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Newsmaker Interviews by: Gracie Kirschner, John Thomas &#8211; Sep 29, 2024 AUSTIN (Nexstar) \u2013 Fentanyl poisonings continue to kill thousands of people across Texas. But the\u00a0latest statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u00a0show an encouraging sign. The numbers show a slight decrease in deaths in Texas, mirroring a nationwide decline that started showing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122,46,40,19,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fentanyl","category-parents","category-prevention-research","category-usa","category-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18649\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}