Mother at DEA fentanyl summit: 'I don't want anybody else to go through what I'm going through'

The Houston office of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) hosted a summit on fentanyl, with several people sharing their tragic experiences with the synthetic opioid, Houston FOX affiliate KRIV reported. 

According to KRIV, attendees at the Regional Family Summit listened to heartbreaking stories from people like Austin resident Rebecca Benavides, who lost her teen son to fentanyl poisoning earlier this year. 

"I don't want anybody else to go through what I'm going through,” Benavides said, the station reported.

DEA Deputy Special Agent Miguel Madrigal said that the accessibility of fentanyl is what drives the current crisis that’s gripping the country. 

"Before to get any type of illegal drug, you had to go to a shady side of town, or you had to wait on crops," Madrigal said in the report. "Fentanyl's completely different. It's year-round. You can buy it off of your phone, social media and order pills. It can be delivered to your home." 

KRIV reported that the DEA’s Houston office has confiscated more than 350,000 fentanyl pills disguised as another drug in the last six months.

Benavides, whose late son, 17-year-old Ryan Garcia, perished before he could go out for his driver’s license, wants to help ensure that other families don’t go through the same thing she is. 

"I'm just missing Ryan, and wishing we knew the knowledge about fentanyl before he was poisoned,” she told the station. 

Per KRIV, there are about 70 fentanyl-related investigations conducted in Houston.

Houston Daily reported that researchers at the University of Houston (UH) developed a vaccine they assert has the ability to stop the dangerous synthetic opioid fentanyl from entering the brain, preventing the drug from producing a “high.” 

Citing a UH-issued press release, the publication reported that the discovery is purportedly timely as fentanyl overdoses claim more than 150 lives on a daily basis.