The Elephant in the Room
Perhaps these facts can help save one person’s life, and save one other family from this unfathomable pain.
Our son, we have learned in the last few days, occasionally used cocaine ‘recreationally.’ Cocaine is more popular today than we naive parents realized, readily available and more common than we ever expected. Perhaps you have used cocaine? Perhaps your child has? Perhaps your child has and you don’t know? Talk to them.
Our son was trusting of other people, and always saw the best in everyone. We know that he could not imagine that someone out there would knowingly hand him a drug that might kill him.
Fentanyl is an opiod pain medication, a narcotic that is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine. It is prescribed for late stage cancer patients experiencing extreme pain. Misuse of fentanyl can cause death, especially when used without a prescription or when combined with other drugs including alcohol.
Street fentanyl, primarily manufactured illegally in Mexico, is added to cocaine and heroin by drug dealers to increase its potency, to ‘enhance your high.’ However, most users have no idea that they are using fentanyl, often resulting in overdose deaths. You only have to use it once.
In 2019, more people in Cook County, Illinois died of a fentanyl overdose (789) than were killed by guns (580). This is a cruel epidemic which we fear does not get the attention and outrage it deserves because its victims were using an illegal drug so ‘they should have known better.’
Our son did not take his own life deliberately, and he was not an addict. He was a young man who made one bad decision last week. If you or your family are dealing with suicide or addiction, our hearts go out to you. Our prayers are with you. These are also huge problems in our community that should be given more attention.
Talk to your children. Listen to your children. Hug them, and tell them you love them. And feel free to share this message with the world.
Charlie Sullivan 1996-2020
