In an effort to combat the opioid epidemic, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed two legislation into law on Monday.
A year ago, Debra Flanigan lost her daughter Casey to fentanyl. Casey is only one of many people who have died from drug-related causes. According to Debra, her kid will always be 31.
“Being a whole year still didn’t seem real, but I guess when it kind of hit that one year, reality kind of set in,” she stated.
Debra, who is suffering from stage four cancer, stated that Casey was her primary caregiver.
“She took me to all of my scans; she was just there no matter what,” Flanigan stated
She mentioned that she didn’t want to fight after losing her first child.
“I gave up, you know, my firstborn was gone. I needed to be with her. I thought, but then one day something just hit me, and I realized I need to fight for her,” she stated.
According to Flanigan, there is a kind of suffering that she would never want on anyone: losing a kid to fentanyl exposure.
“It hurts every single day. There’s not a day that I don’t cry,” she said.
A bill that makes it a second-degree felony to “recklessly” expose first responders to fentanyl was signed by Governor Ron DeSantis. For instance, you might face charges if you tell an officer you don’t have drugs and they find out and are hurt.
“This is nasty stuff, and you have situations where law enforcement personnel are responding to these situations where fentanyl may be involved in, they really are putting themselves at risk,” DeSantis stated.
After learning about the bill, Flanigan stated, “I’m so glad he did that. The first responders don’t know what they’re walking into when they walk into a situation where fentanyl is involved, they need to be protected.”
Read Also: Fentanyl-Related Child Deaths Spark Statewide Emergency in Wisconsin
Additionally, he approved a bill designating June 6 as Revive Awareness Day.
“It is called Victoria’s law and it encourages the Florida Department of Health to hold events to raise awareness of the dangers of opioid overdose and the safe use of opioid counteractive,” he stated.
According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, there were 3% fewer drug-related fatalities overall in 2022 than in 2021.
The report stated that fentanyl accounted for the majority of drug-related fatalities. The 2023 statistics are still pending.
Nobody should die the way Flanigan’s daughter did, she added, and she will never give up trying to put an end to the scourge.
According to Flanigan, she is spending the weekend at her daughter’s cemetery in Alabama in honor of Mother’s Day.
