Colorado mother hosts vigil to honor lives lost to fentanyl, raise awareness

A grieving mother is bringing attention to the narcotic that claimed her daughter's life in hopes of saving others.

Maddie Wright, 23, died in 2020 after she took what she believed was oxycodone. Instead, the pill contained a lethal amount of fentanyl.

The desire to save lives prompted Maddie's mother, Julie, to create the Maddie Wright Foundation .

"There's children that have never even heard or tried drugs that are dying," Julie said. "Fentanyl is today's weapon of death."

The Maddie Wright Foundation aims to spread awareness about the harms of fentanyl and teach people how to use naloxone, a treatment that can save a person from an overdose. Naloxone is also known by the brand name, Narcan.

"I feel if Maddie had known of the danger, she never would have taken that oxy pill," said Julie.

Several families gathered Wednesday in front of the Denver City and County Building to share their stories of loss.

"My son, Calvin, died of fentanyl poisoning on April 30, 2023," said Tricia Otto, the Colorado chapter representative for the Drug-Induced Homicide Foundation.

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Prosecution in fentanyl cases is rare because investigators often don't know where the drugs came from, who distributed it and with what intent.

Following Wright's death, prosecutors in Arapahoe County attempted to try one of the first fentanyl-related manslaughter cases in Colorado. The case, however, was eventually dismissed.

Otto said the state's laws aren't strict enough when it comes to fentanyl.

"We're tired of crying," she said. "We're tired of seeing children dying. And the era for impunity for drug dealers has to end. It has to end."

Kim Osterman lost her son, Max, to a fentanyl overdose. She also expressed frustration with Colorado's laws.

Since July 1, 2022, a person who knowingly possesses more than one gram of fentanyl, carfentanil, benzimidazole opiate, or an analog thereof commits a Level 4 drug felony. Possession of less than 1 gram is a Level 1 drug misdemeanor for a first offense and a Level 4 drug felony for a second offense. Unknowingly possessing 1 to 4 grams of the listed substances is a Level 1 drug misdemeanor.

Osterman said the law's loophole is too large.

"If they didn't knowingly sell it, all they have to say is, 'I didn't know it had fentanyl in it,'" she said. "So they're not being prosecuted."

The Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) Rocky Mountain Field Division, which covers Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana, seized 425.6 kilograms of fentanyl in 2023. Just two milligrams of pure fentanyl is a lethal dose.

"Unfortunately, the numbers are not going down," said Steffan Tubbs, public information officer for the DEA Rocky Mountain Field Division. "We will most likely break a record that we set last year here in Colorado for fentanyl pill seizures."

Wright believes overdose deaths resulting from fentanyl can be prevented if more stories like hers are shared.

"We just are heavy grieving mothers that do not want this to happen to anyone else," she said.

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