The Fentvic billboard campaign running in Winston-Salem will come to an end on June 26th. The billboards have been captured in a time lapse format and the portions for other advertisers has been removed leaving just the victims featured on each one. See the billboard content on the YouTube videos below.
Category: News
Winston-Salem mother searches for answers after son dies from fentanyl overdose
For six long months, Andrea Scales didnโt know for sure how her only son died.
It took that long for a toxicology screen run by the state medical examinerโs office to come back with a ruling: fentanyl poisoning.
Someone slipped her son what he surely thought was a Percocet pill. Instead, the pill contained fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid similar to morphine, and it took his life.
Jeremiah โJ5โ Scales, an accomplished athlete at Parkland High School, was 19 years old.
โI knew nothing about fentanyl โฆ one Percocet doesnโt kill you,โ Scales said. โIt was the last thing I ever expected.โ
Now, a little over a year since she buried Jeremiah, sheโs decided to see if she could save another mother from feeling the same crushing pain.
She allowed a photo of her son to be included on a month-long billboard campaign to educate and raise awareness about an epidemic that has killed thousands of North Carolinians.
โIt just hurts โฆ extremely painful to live without your only child,โ Scales said. โYes, Iโm all for educating other people about it and doing whatever I can do.โ
Read the full article on the Winston-Salem Journal website (subscription may be required).
Victims’ families fight illicit fentanyl in North Carolina, speak during local event
WATAUGA โ The Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina and Forgotten Victims of North Carolina hosted an invitation-only event at App Ski Mtn. on Saturday, June 3, to provide victimsโ loved ones the opportunity to share their story and honor their children, siblings and parents lost to illicit fentanyl poisoning.
The Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina Executive Director Barb Walsh lost her 24 year-old daughter Sophia in 2021 to fentanyl poisoning. Sophia, an App State graduate and successful business woman, was visiting someone in Banner Elk and is thought to have unknowingly consumed a drink laced with illicit fentanyl. While the case closed with no charges pursued, Walsh is committed to bringing awareness to the dangers of fentanyl poisoning and advocate for justice for victims and their families.
Loved ones of illicit fentanyl victims Timothy Daniel Cothron, Alex Bradford, Heaven Nelson, Michiko Duff Marshall Abbott and Brianna Culpepper spoke about their experiences. NC Department of Justice Community Partnership and Outreach Coordinator Holly Jones, NC District 93 Rep. Ray Pickett and Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page discussed progress and intended actions related to fighting illicit fentanyl.
Burdened after Death: What you should know about North Carolinaโs autopsy crisis
A severe autopsy backlog in North Carolina has added to the financial and emotional burdens of grieving families, a Charlotte Observer and News & Observer investigation revealed.
Here are three takeaways from Burdened after Death:
When people in North Carolina die unexpectedly, required medical investigations usually take more than 20 weeks. In nearly 1,400 cases since 2020, they took more than a year.
That crisis heaps more burdens on grieving family members during one of the worst periods of their lives. Some canโt touch funds they are entitled to inherit, leaving their biggest bills unpaid. Many must wait months for the answer to a burning question: Why did their loved one die?
The system is bogged down chiefly because there are too many bodies and too few pathologists and toxicologists to handle the load.
Read the full article on the Raleigh News and Observer web site.
WCSO arrests woman for death by distribution, first charge of it’s kind in Watauga
Other man to face similar charges once released from jail on unrelated case
- By Moss Brennan moss.brennan@wataugademocrat.com
- Jun 6, 2023 Updated Jun 6, 2023
WATAUGA โ The Watauga County Sheriffโs Office has charged a woman with death by distribution in what is the first charge of its kind in the county.
Angelina G. Miller, 30, was arrested by the Alexander County Sheriffโs Office on Saturday, June 3, after WCSO notified Alexander County that she was likely in the area.
The secured bond for the death by distribution charge was set at $500,000 by Alexander County Magistrateโs Office. She received a court date for June 28, at 9 a.m. in Watauga County District Court.
According to the Watauga County warrant, Miller allegedly โunlawfully, willfully, and feloniously did sell narcotics, Fentanyl, whichโ killed someone due to an overdose of the Fentanyl. The warrant notes that the โoffender did not act with malice.โ
FENTVIC.ORG ย NC BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN
May 29-June 26, 2023, 24/7, digital and illuminated.
Winston-Salem, Forsyth County NC, 2 locations
Purpose is to raise awareness of the 13,376 NC victims of illicit fentanyl poisonings and to generate public safety conversations within communities and families about the dangers of illicit fentanyl, particularly counterfeit pills. Illicit fentanyl killed over 523 Forsyth County residents in the past 9 years, 2013-August 2022. (source: North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics, Vital Statistics Death Certificate Data)
These are the first billboards of the FENTVIC.ORG Campaign. They feature 19 NC illicit fentanyl poisoning victims with permission of their families. The campaign will run in other cities throughout NC exclusively featuring NC illicit fentanyl poisoning victims. Future campaign locations and dates TBD.
FENTVIC.ORG NC BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN
Administered by Fentanyl Victims Network of NC (fentvic), www.fentvic.org,
Barb Walsh, Executive Director, 919-614-3830, barb@fentvic.org. Fentvic is a charitable nonprofit located in Cary NC. EIN #88-3921380. Fentvic fights illicit fentanyl in NC. Fentvic advocates for public safety for all and justice for NC families permanently damaged by illicit fentanyl poisonings.
In partnership with Forgotten Victims of NC, Patricia Drewes, Founder, 252-204-9611, patriciadrewes@yahoo.com, link to FB page: http://forgottenvictimsofnc.org/
Campaign Locations & Artwork developed Adams Outdoor Advertising, Julie Belnap, Account Executive,336-926-3850 (cell), jbelnap@adamsoutdoor.com
FENTVIC.ORG NC BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN: 2 locations in Winston Salem, Forsyth County
- Digital Group One features NC fentanyl victims Alexandra, Christian, Gabriella, Heaven, Hunter, Jared, Jeremiah, Robert, Sophia, and Zack: Billboard location: sign 305-4. B40 .12 miles East of Stratford Road N, Exit 3C N/side of highway Facing west. You can park off Miller Street (near Publix) behind the Mayberryโs Restaurant to view this digital (parking lot area there for viewing) Google Maps.
- Digital Group Two features NC fentanyl victims Abigail, Ashley, Carissa, Chase, Marshall, Martin, Michiko, Mikey, Sophia, and Vincent.ย Billboard Location:ย sign 602-4. B40 .37 miles West of Old Greensboro Rd/ Linville Road (Exit 10)NS Facing west.ย Take Exit 10 to Linville Road, and head towards Smokinโ Harley Davidson dealer.ย Go past the dealer toward Pepsi plant (turn around and you can park on side of service road for viewing) Google Maps.
Ashley Whaby Unknowingly Took Fentanyl and Died, So Why Has No One Been Held Accountable, Grandma Asks
Ashley Whaby was found dead the day after a party where she may have unknowingly ingested fentanyl. No one has been charged in her death, and her grandmother, Debbie Peeden, wants answers.
Ashley Whaby was at a party with a few friends one fall night in 2021 when she ingested a drug she believed she had used many times before. But unbeknownst to her, it was laced with a lethal dose of fentanyl, her loved ones say.
Ashleyโs death left Debbie Peeden, her grandmother and the woman who raised her, with a life-altering wound and an unbreakable resolve for answers. But thus far, sheโs gotten few that have satisfied her, she tells Inside Edition Digital in an in-depth interview.
Read the full article on the Inside Edition website.
Fentanyl-related deaths among children increased more than 30-fold between 2013 and 2021
CNN โ
Fatal overdoses involving fentanyl have surged in recent years in the US and new research shows that deaths among children have increased significantly, mirroring trends among adults.
More than 5,000 children and teens have died from overdoses involving fentanyl in the past two decades, according to data published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics. More than half of those deaths occurred in the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic.
There were about 1,550 pediatric deaths from fentanyl in 2021 โ over 30 times more than in 2013, when the wave of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids started in the US.
Watch the segment and read the full article on the CNN web site.
Attorney General Josh Stein Statement on National Fentanyl Awareness Day
Woman advocates for speedier toxicology, autopsy results
WSOC TV9 in Charlotte segment featuring Barbara Walsh advocating for speedier toxicology and autopsy reports.