Raising Community Awareness
Not-for-Profit Foundation Helping Individuals Nationwide
Voices for Awareness Foundation based in Grand Junction, CO attends events nationwide to promote community awareness by sharing personal stories of loss and the effects of addiction and self-harm to prevent others from losing their lives to such causes. As a not-for-profit foundation, we speak on the dangers of counterfeit drugs and their prevalence in our world today.
RALLY AT THE CHINESE EMABASSY WASHINGTON D.C. AUGUST 27, 2021
Voices For Awareness attended the Rally at the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C. in August 2021. Fentanyl is flooding into our Country and it is being made in China and solicited to the United States by the Mexican Cartels. We are losing our loved ones at an alarming rate. Fentanyl is a Drug of Mass Destruction!
Voices For Awareness attended the Rally at the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C. in August 2021. Fentanyl is flooding into our Country and it is being made in China and solicited to the United States by the Mexican Cartels. We are losing our loved ones at an alarming rate. Fentanyl is a Drug of Mass Destruction!
Illicit Fentanyl is flooding into our country. People are dying at alarming rates. This is the first of three part series by Madelyn Beck of Boise State Public Radio News.
Fentanyl Has Made It To The Mountain West And Its Death Toll Is Rising
Andrea Thomas sits in her office, holding a picture of her daughter Ashley Romero and her grandson. Ashley died from fentanyl poisoning in 2018 at the age of 32.
It was 2018. Ashley Romero was 32. She was living in Grand Junction, Colorado, a smaller community known for mountain bike tourism, public land access and beautiful rocky terrain. She had an 8-year-old son and a boyfriend. "She was dating someone and he gave her a half of a little blue pill,” Ashley’s mom, Andrea Thomas, recalled in a recent interview.
Thomas said the pill looked like a Percocet, but it wasn’t. “She died almost instantly,” Thomas said.Ashley’s boyfriend took the other half, also nearly died and was revived. But he killed himself shortly after.Pills like these — known on the street as Mexican Oxy, Blue Mexis or Blues — contain the man-made opioid fentanyl. It’s similar to morphine, but can be 100 times stronger. It can make you high — or if you have too much, stop your heart.
It was 2018. Ashley Romero was 32. She was living in Grand Junction, Colorado, a smaller community known for mountain bike tourism, public land access and beautiful rocky terrain. She had an 8-year-old son and a boyfriend. “She was dating someone and he gave her a half of a little blue pill,” Ashley’s mom, Andrea Thomas, recalled in a recent interview. Thomas said the pill looked like a Percocet, but it wasn’t. “She died almost instantly,” Thomas said Ashley’s boyfriend took the other half, also nearly died and was revived. But he killed himself shortly after. Pills like these — known on the street as Mexican Oxy, Blue Mexis or Blues — contain the man-made opioid fentanyl. It’s similar to morphine, but can be 100 times stronger. It can make you high — or if you have too much, stop your heart.
Thomas said the pill looked like a Percocet, but it wasn’t. “She died almost instantly,” Thomas said.Ashley’s boyfriend took the other half, also nearly died and was revived. But he killed himself shortly after.Pills like these — known on the street as Mexican Oxy, Blue Mexis or Blues — contain the man-made opioid fentanyl. It’s similar to morphine, but can be 100 times stronger. It can make you high — or if you have too much, stop your heart.
It was 2018. Ashley Romero was 32. She was living in Grand Junction, Colorado, a smaller community known for mountain bike tourism, public land access and beautiful rocky terrain. She had an 8-year-old son and a boyfriend. “She was dating someone and he gave her a half of a little blue pill,” Ashley’s mom, Andrea Thomas, recalled in a recent interview. Thomas said the pill looked like a Percocet, but it wasn’t. “She died almost instantly,” Thomas said Ashley’s boyfriend took the other half, also nearly died and was revived. But he killed himself shortly after. Pills like these — known on the street as Mexican Oxy, Blue Mexis or Blues — contain the man-made opioid fentanyl. It’s similar to morphine, but can be 100 times stronger. It can make you high — or if you have too much, stop your heart.
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" I started reporting this series on fentanyl months ago, and I expect to continue following it for months – or years – to come.
Here’s the short version: Pills that are laced with fentanyl or contain nothing but fentanyl are coming into the Mountain West via the border with Mexico. About a quarter of the fentanyl pills seized by the DEA have had enough fentanyl to kill. Fentanyl is an extremely potent and cheap man-made opioid. It’s effective for pain management and is used in hospitals every day. But without proper equipment, it’s hard to measure and easy to overdose on. Prosecutors and police are trying to stop the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. and to arrest dealers, though some groups argue that this is just another continuation of a failed drug war" - Madelyn Beck .www.boisestatepublicradio.org/2021-08-24/about-this-series-the-mountain-west-and-its-growing-problem-with-fentanyl |
How fake blue pills killed people on the Western Slope and led to Colorado’s first counterfeit opioid death conviction For the first time in Colorado, a drug dealer has been convicted of causing a person’s death from fentanyl pills disguised to look like prescription painkillers. The trial centered on one victim, but there were others.
COUNTERFEITING CHARGES STICK APRIL 2021
Update: On April 20, 2021, a federal jury convicted Bruce Holder, who sold tens of thousands of counterfeit pills made with fentanyl in western Colorado, of distributing fentanyl and counterfeit substances that killed a Carbondale man in 2017. Holder also sold the pills that killed Ashley Romero.
Crime And Policy III: Counterfeit Medicines In 2021
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VOICES FOR AWARENESS CONFERENCE 2019
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Voices for Awareness Foundation Attended Opioid Summit Las Vegas March 5th, 2019
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Voices for Awareness Testifies in Opposition of Senate Bill 5 April 17, 2019
PROCLAMATION FOR MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH MAY 2019
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Voices for Awareness founders Andrea Thomas & D’Ann Hopkins are presented with the May 2019 Proclamation from Mesa County for Mental Health Awareness Month L-R Mesa County Commissioner John Justman, Andrea Thomas, Mesa County Commissioner Rose Pugliese, D’Ann Hopkins & Mesa County Comissioner Scott McInnis
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Women start foundation aimed at curbing suicide, opioid abuse
Join Our Community Awareness Efforts
Our team at Voices for Awareness Foundation is always eager to work on projects that promote awareness about addiction and self-harm within our organization and the community. We provide contacts and resources for people that have lost a loved one to addiction or self-harm or those who feel moved to spread the word in hopes of helping save a life. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you wish to connect with our not-for-profit organization.
