Light of Hope hosts a town hall to warn about the dangers of fentanyl

TULSA, Okla. — Nonprofit Light of Hope hosted a Fentanyl Awareness Town Hall meeting to highlight the true danger fentanyl poses both on a local and national scale.

"[Fentanyl] affects all of us and we just want to make sure people know that there's resources out there, there's help," said Nancy Phelps, the executive director of Light of Hope. "I don't want them to feel alone and we just want them to know that someone will walk alongside them and that's what the Light of Hope is here for."

The town hall had a panel of recovered addicts, law enforcement, officials with Grand Mental Health and people who have directly seen the effects of fentanyl in our communities.

"I was used to, on occasions, seeing somebody who was shot or stabbed, or died of a result of a DUI collision. Now, more often than not, I'm reading the thing that's called methamphetamine toxicity or compound drug toxicity," said Tulsa District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler.

Kunzweiler said this new phenomenon is heart wrenching.

"If we had the airplane crashing every day, it would be headline news, not only that day, but for probably the next week," stated Kunzweiler.

It was mentioned at tonight's panel that hundreds of thousands of people have died due to fentanyl overdose. The DEA is calling fentanyl the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered.

One member of the panel was Ce'gon Shoeleh, a recovered addict sharing her story to help families going through the fentanyl epidemic.

"My breaking point was I had about 6 months clean, and I relapsed. I ended up overdosing and I ended up in the ICU for about 4 or 5 days with a pulmonary hemorrhage," said Shoeleh. "It happened in front of family and it was just one of those things for me, it was my wake up call. I woke up and I said, I'm done, I'm never doing this again and I haven't."

However, as she's been in recovery, she's said she's noticed times are changing and drugs are evolving.

"It's amazing the longer I'm in recovery, the less relatable my story becomes because the drugs are not what they used to be, even when I was using. It's only been 2 and a half years since I stopped using and the drugs are already different."

Since October is Substance Abuse Awareness month, Light of Hope is determined to bring awareness to the topic. In 2 to 3 weeks, they said they will be holding a Narcan training. Narcan is the opioid overdose reversal drug that can save someone's life during an overdose.

To learn more about Light of Hope and the services they offer, you can visit their website at lightofhopeinc.org.