Yet she does what she can to expose how and why fentanyl has come to be known as a scourge. VanHouten left Grand Junction after Miah’s death. McKenzie Lange/Grand Junction Daily Sentinel A pattern of severe, life-threatening prescription errors by the troubled mental health center responsible for treating 10 Western Slope counties put many of its patients at risk, according to the findings of an official investigation that three state agencies withheld from the public for more. It’s never easy to talk about losing a child. Food and Drug administration approved Narcan for over-the-counter non-prescription use, though it could take months to become available.ĭrug overdose persists as a major public health issue in the United States, with more than 101,750 reported fatal overdoses occurring in the 12-month period ending in October 2022, primarily driven by synthetic opioids like illicit fentanyl, according to the FDA. It’s branded as Narcan by one pharmaceutical manufacturer. The second is the availability of naloxone, a medication that reverses an opioid overdose. It protects a person from criminal prosecution when they report “in good faith” an emergency drug or alcohol overdose - even if they had something to do with facilitating the overdose. The first is Colorado’s 911 Good Samaritan Law. VanHouten is a fentanyl “awareness ambassador.” When she has the emotional energy and encounters someone “who needs to hear the story,” she’ll go into “awareness mode” and share all the pertinent details, facts and statistics, including two important points she believes could have saved her daughter’s life.

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