Barbara Walsh was a guest on episode #131 of the the Grieving Out Loud podcast with Angela Kennecke.
When a water bottle turns deadly: How fentanyl shows up in unexpected places
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Barbara Walsh speech at National Rally
Barbara Walsh spoke at the Nantional Fentanyl Awareness Rally in Washington DC on September 23, 2023.
Revised death by distribution law offers relief to victims’ families
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — Advocates and law enforcement in the fight against opioids in North Carolina are calling a new piece of legislation a major victory. On Thursday, Governor Cooper signed a revised version of SB 189 into law, establishing harsher penalties for people who traffic and provide bad drugs.
Under the revised bill, which treats death by distribution as a Class C felony, drug traffickers and people whose drugs result in others dying will face more serious jail time. It also makes charging those people easier, no longer requiring prosecutors to prove a transaction, just that the drugs were “delivered”.
“What this means is the families who worked to help change the law for the better won. And it means that anyone who loses a loved one in the future faces a better chance of justice,” said Barbara Walsh, Executive Director of the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina.
Walsh lost her daughter, Sophia, to fentanyl in August 2021, and founded the Victims Network to help impacted families get justice — and to advocate for legislation like the revised SB 189.
Read the full article and watch the video on the ABC11 website.
North Carolina #4 in the nation for fentanyl deaths
Families Against Fentanyl issued a brief on September 26, 2023 which shows North Carolina as #4 in the nation for fentanyl deaths. Read the full brief on the Familes Against Fentanyl website.
Demonstrators call for more federal help to address fentanyl epidemic
WRAL News coverage of the National Fentanyl Rally held in Washington DC on September 23, 2023.
Hundreds of people from around the country attended the march and rally outside the White House yesterday. It was organized by Lost Voices of Fentanyl.
Rockingham County holds town hall on dangers of fentanyl
ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N.C. — Students, teachers, and parents will attend a town hall Tuesday night in Rockingham County to talk about the dangers of fentanyl.
It’s a hot topic that’s growing as Rockingham County joins Guilford County on the matter.
Guilford County hosted town halls last spring. The town halls came about after a survey at Northern Guilford High School showed nearly 90% of students said drugs were a problem at school.
Kathleen Smith helped plan that meeting. She’s happy to see more counties doing the same.
“It feels really good, but you don’t want to pat yourself on the back too much as a school community, knowing there’s just so much more work to be done, and you know, the problem is really pervasive. I sat down with some moms and kids not long ago on my back porch and you know, I had this girl who I highly respect, who is in college; she’s just like, ‘Ms. Smith, everybody does it,’ kind of like, get over it, but that’s not what I want. We want to raise our kids to treat their bodies, for the most part, like cathedrals,” Smith said.
Law enforcement officials said fentanyl really ramped up in 2015. They said what used to be a heroin problem is now a fentanyl problem.
Read the full article and watch the video on the WFMY News2 website.
CNN explains how Narcan can reverse an overdose
The FDA recently approved an opioid overdose antidote for over-the-counter use. CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains how to use it.
‘Unacceptable.’ Rise in fentanyl-related deaths has parents, activists sounding alarm in NC
NORTH CAROLINA (WTVD) — As parents and activists raise their voices for action on Fentanyl Awareness Day, new data from the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office shows the fentanyl problem is only getting worse in North Carolina.
In fact, there were more fentanyl-related deaths reported in just the first five months of this year compared to all of 2016 and 2017 combined. In the last twelve months in North Carolina, there have been 3,433 reported fentanyl-related deaths.
“We’re losing. we’re losing kids. We’re losing grandbabies. We’re losing sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles, and it’s unacceptable,” said Barb Walsh, Executive Director of the non-profit Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina.
Walsh lost her daughter, Sophia, to Fentanyl in August of 2021, after she drank a water bottle she didn’t know had fentanyl diluted in it. She said prosecutors’ decision not to press charges was crushing.
“It’s devastating to a family to know who killed your child and not be able to do anything about it,” said Walsh.
Read the full article and watch the video on the ABC11 website.
Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina hosts fentanyl awareness rally in Raleigh
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — As fentanyl awareness and prevention day approaches, many people gathered for a rally at the state capital Sunday.
The rally was to help raise awareness about the innocent teenage victims who have died by unintentionally encountering fentanyl in fake prescription medications like Adderall, Xanax and Percocet.
It was hosted by the group Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina, who are pushing for the passage of Senate bills 189 and Senate Bill 250, which would modify the Death by Distribution Law.
According to the group, 13,671 North Carolina residents have been killed by Fentanyl in the past nine years, and eight NC residents die each day by Fentanyl.
Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina is also calling for an increase in salaries and hiring chemists to process toxicology reports and the investigation of drug-related deaths.
Monday will mark National Fentanyl Awareness and Prevention Day.
Read the full article and watch the video on the ABC11 website.
Victims of fentanyl poisonings push for broader jurisdiction of fentanyl laws
A group of activists rallied outside the State Capitol Sunday afternoon to push for tougher punishments for people who illegally distribute fentanyl.
The group is pushing for two bills to pass, Senate Bill 189 and House Bill 250.
If the bills pass, it would broaden who gets criminally prosecuted for distributing fentanyl. As it stands, North Carolina is one of the few states that has a death-by-distribution law.
That law allows district attorneys to prosecute people who sell drugs that lead to an overdose death.
The bills would allow district attorneys to prosecute people for not just selling drugs, but for general distribution, even if there is no money involved.
“They would see the person who killed their son, or daughter, or wife or cousin in the courtroom,” Executive Director of the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina Barb Walsh said. “And there’s no words for that.”
Walsh and her group have been connecting family members of fentanyl overdose victims with one another to form a support group.
Read the full article and watch the video on the WRAL website.