‘Fentanyl Fathers’ visits Santa Rosa County high schools to spread awareness on fentanyl overdoses

SANTA ROSA COUNTY, Fla. ( WKRG ) — The nonprofit known as Fentanyl Fathers follows the story of how one father turned the loss of his child into a fentanyl awareness program for young adults.

Florida is the state with the second-highest number of fentanyl overdoses per year in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Fentanyl Fathers co-founder Greg Swan created the nonprofit back in 2022 to inform younger people about the dangers of taking unmarked pills.

“This isn’t a niche problem,” Swan said. “This is a be aware right now kids; you cannot allow this slaughtering to continue.”

Traveling across the country to share his story, Swan spoke at five high schools throughout Santa Rosa County in September.

Greg Swan, Co-Founder of Fentanyl Fathers, shares with high schoolers in Navarre what a laced opioid can look like. (News 5 photo)

He intends to teach high schoolers the danger of fentanyl to spare their parents the heartbreak he felt in losing his son Drew to fentanyl poisoning.

“To have a parent avoid the loss of a kid, which guts your soul, is really a great pay off for me,” Swan said.

Swan lost his son back in April 2013. Drew was only 24 years old when he passed.

“So, I sat up, I knew something bad was coming and said, ‘What’s going on?’ and he says, ‘Drew’s dead,'” Swan said. “It didn’t even compute because I was just waking up and when I realized it, I flipped off the heavens and told God I was breaking up with him.”

According to the CDC, over 107,000 Americans died in 2023 due to drug overdoses. Two-thirds of those deaths were related to fentanyl poisoning.

With Narcan now available in the health centers at Santa Rosa County high schools, Swan talked about how easy the medication is to administer. His hope is these high schoolers will be fully prepared in case of an emergency.

For Swan, the relationship he’s fostered with high schoolers across the country has been one of the most rewarding ways to keep his son’s memory alive.

“I get in here and warn other kids about Fentanyl, save kids in the name of your kid and suddenly you’ve got a hundred kids you’ve saved because your kid died,” Swan said. “Suddenly his passing is a little bit more worthwhile, you get a little bit bigger pay off. It’s a beautiful thing.”

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