Memphis Standard

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) has released a video in which she discusses the fentanyl epidemic with Kathy, a mother from Middle Tennessee who lost her 17-year-old son, Vaughn-Thomas, to a fentanyl-laced pill.

In the video, Blackburn states, "Most all of us know at least one person through friends, through family that has been affected, their lives have been torn apart by fentanyl. Over 100,000 Americans a year die [from drug overdoses], and it’s primarily fentanyl. The precursors come from China into Mexico, and then drug cartels bring it into the country. What we know is that across our great state, there are so many physicians and nurses and healthcare professionals who are on the front line of this every day. That is why we say thank you to our law enforcement and our healthcare community for the work that they are doing to fight back against fentanyl."

Kathy shares her personal story about her son: "Vaughn-Thomas… was our firstborn, our oldest of three sons. He was very strong in his faith, he loved his friends, he was a good student, he was athletic, he loved golf – life was going really well for him… He was supposed to play golf with his dad the next day, and when Vaughn-Thomas didn’t wake up to his alarm, that’s when we found him. He took what he thought was a Xanax – it was a counterfeit Xanax. Our borders are inviting tragedy into the lives of our children. One mistake should not have been a death sentence for Vaughn-Thomas."

Fentanyl poisoning is currently the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-45. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), CBP's fentanyl seizures increased more than 860% from fiscal years 2019 to 2023 and nearly doubled from fiscal years 2022 to 2023. Last month alone saw CBP officers in Arizona seize approximately four million blue fentanyl pills weighing over 1,000 pounds—the largest singular fentanyl seizure in CBP history.

So far in 2024, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has seized enough fentanyl to potentially kill 269 million Americans.