Little joins a mom in anti-fentanyl message

Fentanyl takes all. And all it takes is one pill.

That was the message shared with students Tuesday at Lewiston High School by Idaho Gov. Brad Little and Lewiston’s Tarina Taylor, the mother of Zachary Taylor, a 26-year-old who died of a fentanyl overdose.

Taylor told students about “my sweet son Zach” as a photo of him with his dog, Tucker, was shown on the screen.

“As I look around the room I am reminded so much of my son Zach — he was also a Bengal,” she said.

Taylor told students that Zach loved life, his dog, BMX and going to music festivals. He was always creating and sharing playlists with people.

“Zach did not want to die,” she said.

Taylor said Zach was bored, like many kids in a small town, and when he got a message from someone offering him OxyContin he took some. Zach was looking for a good time and for a little high.

But the pill Zach took was counterfeit from a drug dealer, and had fentanyl. Later when the pill was tested it was found to have enough fentanyl to kill six people.

“With fentanyl, one pill can kill,” Taylor said.

On that day, Taylor went to her son’s house and found the door unlocked. Inside, his dog, Tucker, was pacing back and forth. Then she went into Zach’s bedroom and found him.

“I instantly knew my Zach was gone,” she said.

It was the worst day of her life and “his death also took a part of me.”

She told students that, if they felt disconnected from the message or that it didn’t apply to them, they were wrong.

“This can happen to anyone,” Taylor said.

She said seven of 10 fentanyl pills contain a lethal dose. Fentanyl is not only found in specific fentanyl pills but also shows up in other illegal drugs, like Adderall and marijuana.

Taylor told students she remembers being their age and knows how easy it is to be influenced by peer pressure, but it’s not worth it.

“Please, please, don’t risk your life for a high,” she said.

She said that every year there are kids like Zach who die from fentanyl overdose.

“I am here today because I never ever want anyone to go through what I went through that day,” Taylor said.

Even though Zach is gone, Taylor said she is still his mother, but events like Sunday’s Mother’s Day holiday reminds her that Zach will never tell her “I love you Momma” again. She didn’t want those at the high school to miss out on those family moments by having fentanyl take them.

“As a mother, I am here because I want his memory to mean something,” Taylor said.

So she shares his story and her story to bring awareness and prevent more deaths.

Lewiston Superintendent Lance Hansen thanked Taylor for her courage in sharing her story and message, which he hoped would make a difference.

“Most of the time, we don’t make life-impacting choices with our parents,” he said, noting that when teens decide to take drugs it’s when their parents are gone. “This particular choice is not one you can recover from.”

Hansen also introduced Little to the students, and the governor shared about his state initiatives to combat fentanyl. Little talked about the dangers of fentanyl, much like Taylor, explaining how lethal it can be and the uncertainty of how much each pill has.

A video was played that showed that an amount of fentanyl smaller than a ladybug can kill. Little said fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. Fentanyl overdose is also the leading cause of death for people 18-45 years old across the country.

Little said drug producers make fentanyl in a lab and often mix it with other drugs to stretch it out and make it cheaper. Often the drugs are made in Mexico with chemicals that come from China.

“These aren’t just back in some barn,” Little said, explaining that drug producers have technology to make drugs that can look like the ones that come from a pharmacy.

“This makes every dose a gamble,” Little said. “People have no idea how much fentanyl they’re getting.”

Sometimes students can get addicted when they get an athletic injury and are treated for pain. Little said people addicted to fentanyl require more and more drugs, which increases the danger.

Little explained some of the statewide programs to curb the use of fentanyl by teaming up with law enforcement, health care personnel and tribes, and by providing more mental and behavioral health to treat addiction.

Little said at first law enforcement didn’t have the tools to test for fentanyl, but now that testing is available. Fentanyl testing strips are also available to the public and can detect if there is fentanyl in a substance, which comes from a bill Little signed this year.

Little also started an awareness campaign through social media called “Fentanyl takes all.” The difficulty in reaching people on social media is that people have different feeds and platforms, but the campaign has reached 60 million phones in Idaho and awareness has increased by 22%.

“As the problem changes we have to change our messaging,” Little said.

While all those measures are steps Little and his office are taking, he told the students they have their own role to play. He told them to take only pills directly from a pharmacy and to look out for others buying pills from other sources. The problem needs to be taken seriously and the students need to take care of one another.

“All our work is pointless, if you, our young people, don’t look out for each other every day,” Little said.

Brewster may be contacted at kbrewster@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2297.