
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
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