Fentanyl victim's mom calls for wider access to life-saving drug naloxone
'It would've saved his life,' says Burnaby mother, of drug that blocks the effects of opioids like fentanyl
In April 2014, Jennifer Woodside's 21-year-old son Dylan went to sleep and never woke up.
Dylan, a gifted studio arts student at Capilano University, had taken Oxycontin laced with fentanyl and overdosed.
Since then ,Woodside has worked to raise awareness about the dangers of fentanyl, forming a national group called Moms United and Mandated to Saving the Lives of Drug Users.
She says it's not enough for recreational drug users to "know their source.
"I know that Dylan knew his source, and knowing your source does not mean anything, because that person who's selling probably has an addiction him or herself," said Woodside, of Burnaby.
"You can take one tablet with fentanyl and be safe one day, or you can take half of it and die."
Woodside and the other mothers who have lost children to fentanyl overdoses are campaigning to have kits of naloxone — a drug which counteracts opioid effects — more widely available to recreational users.
"Rather than criminalizing or punishing users, we need to help users," she said.
In the video above Jennifer tells host Gloria Macarenko how naloxone kits and progressive drug policies can help save the lives of recreational drug users.