The fentanyl crisis represents a growing public health emergency fueled by illicitly produced fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 times stronger than heroin.
The Gateway Pundit spoke with Diana Estep, who remembers the loss of her son to a fatal dose of fentanyl exactly five years ago today. The mother of three shared that her eldest son, Drew, faced a few challenges fitting in from an early age.
It’s possible that he had difficulty finding his place because of Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), she admitted. And long before entering high school, Drew was prescribed medication and engaged in behavioral therapy to help treat the condition.
“Like most kids his age,” Estep said, “he wanted to do everything he could to fit in when he hit high school.” Sadly, this would mark the beginning of a struggle that was far more significant than just ADHD. “He fell in with some cool kids who started him out on marijuana,” she explained. “
Previous medications had little effect on his behavior, but “when he found marijuana, it worked,” his mother shared. “Not only did it calm his head, but he also found a place where he that he was accepted.”
“While he fought it tooth and nail,” Estep said, “it led from one substance to another, to another, and another.” For the next six years, Drew cycled through numerous drug rehabilitation centers and sober living facilities.
In the mother’s opinion, “These programs just want money and for the amount being paid, you’d think he could have been cured of anything.” To the contrary, she said, “the demons followed Drew wherever he went, [recalling] he would say he couldn’t be alone inside his own head.”
“There were times he would get clean and have high hopes he could make it,” she revealed. “But on October 7, 2020, the thing that prevented him from trying to get sober was that it killed him.” He thought he was taking heroin, but in reality, he was poisoned by fentanyl.
Fentanyl is a lethal synthetic opioid that can be deadly even in miniscule doses, taking only two milligrams the size of a few grains of salt to cause the death of an average size adult, and is often mixed with other substances, such as heroin and cocaine.
For Drew, his addiction was to heroin. “As parents,” Estep said, “My husband and I had drawn the line on this addiction, but he knew he could just text the word ‘help’ and we would always go get him and we would always answer his call.” Sadly, that call never came in this instance. Following a wellness check on October 11, 2020, it grieves her to say her son’s lifeless 24-year-old body was discovered alone in his apartment.
“If you’ve never dealt with addiction, you can’t understand how hard this fight is to save a loved one from it’s grip,” she offered. The family was devastated, struggling to hold it all together. Though it took some time to be able to say it, she noted, “Even in his death, I realized I can’t just walk away from addiction and never say the word drugs again.”
“I was behind President Trump when he signed the HALT Fentanyl Act, holding Drew’s picture, in July [2025],” said Estep. The legislation permanently designated fentanyl-related substances as a Schedule I drug according to the Controlled Substances Act.
“Society causes a stigma around addiction, but it’s never so easy to gloss over when it involves your own son, daughter, or someone you care about,” she said. “I have to warn parents a child’s use of drugs today is like flipping a coin.” She explained, “They may think they’re taking something for anxiety from a friend, self-medicating, and all it takes it that one mistake to lose a life.”
Counterfeit pills containing fentanyl are alarmingly widespread. Laboratory tests performed by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reveal “that, of the fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills analyzed in 2022, six out of ten now contain a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl.”
Many of these pills are designed to resemble prescription opioids like oxycodone (Oxycontin, Percocet), hydrocodone (Vicodin), and alprazolam (Xanax), as well as stimulants such as amphetamines (Adderall), and they have been found in every state across the U.S.
“When Drew began using drugs back in 2014, there wasn’t fentanyl on the streets,” Estep pointed out. “But today, you might try a pill or something first time and survive, but in time, the next one will kill you.”
“Drew didn’t hold out a lot of hope for himself ever getting over his addiction,” his mother admitted. “He said so many times that he would just tell people don’t ever try drugs. If you don’t start, you don’t have to do this.”
Truth be told, she said, “I was mourning him before he was even gone.”
The post Mother Loses Son to Fentanyl on Oct. 7: ‘If You Don’t Start, You Don’t Have to Do This’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.