When faced with a large crisis, taking the first step can feel daunting, especially when the companies involved holds significant money and power. That was the reality at the start of the opioid epidemic, Mississippi became one of the first states in the nation to take an opioid manufacturer to court. Now the State's Attorney General joins us to discuss that fight and the evolving threats still facing communities across the country. We lost so many mississippians two years ago. It's like a big plane going down and then us being complacent and that's where we cannot be. We've got to continue to fight and, and to, uh, stop the flow of drugs. On this episode of Grieving Out Loud, we sit down with Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch to talk about some of the ways the state is working to save lives from public awareness campaigns and lawsuits, to increasing access to Naloxone and Fentanyl testing strips. When I first took office, the Fentanyl testing strips were deemed drug paraphernalia. Mm-hmm. I asked the legislatures, would you change that because I wanna be able to utilize that as a resource. As a tool. And they did, Along with the challenges of drug use and substance use disorder often comes a ripple effect of other crimes, including illegal deadly drug sales to children on social media and human trafficking here, how Fitch is working to crack down on those crimes and hold people and businesses accountable. We see so many young women, uh, they now have substance abuse issues too, because to do what they've had to do day in and day out in these trafficking situations. It requires drugs because these, these pimps, these johns, these traffickers are pushing the drugs to keep these, uh, victims at bay. Well, I'm delighted to be joined by Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, whom I met a few months ago in New York City when I was talking to a group of attorneys general about our Naloxone program in South Dakota. Thank you so much for joining me today. The thank you. Thank you for having me, and it was such an honor and such a pleasure to meet you at that point. So. Yeah, it was a privilege for me to go and talk to different attorneys general from across the country about what we're doing in South Dakota was distributing in Naloxone, but I think in Mississippi you actually have a big jump on us. I noticed there are several firsts in Mississippi. You're the first female attorney general. Congratulations on that. That's quite the accomplishment. Thank you. then Mississippi was also the first state to sue opioid manufacturers. That's absolutely right. Um, we saw that and recognized that years ago and immediately stepped in and certainly had, you know, all the other states join in because it is a critical issue. There are people's lives at risk and so it's important. Um, and we were happy to take the lead and to certainly to be where we are now. Can you paint a picture for me a little bit about how the opioid crisis has impacted the state of Mississippi? Uh, it's, it's almost different in every state if it's, it came on a little bit slower in South Dakota and then ramped up what happened in Mississippi. Well, unfortunately we saw too many, um, overdose deaths. Um, we saw it hitting all across the spectrum, um, in the various communities. Uh, we saw the overflow of drugs certainly coming across the border. Um, and we were. Realize we've got to be proactive. We now have to take a stand. Uh, we have to be supported with our law enforcement, our prosecutors, and we have to understand that these individuals, uh, we need to provide them assistance. Um, so we needed to provide resources and tools and educate the public. Um, and it did come in very strong here in Mississippi and I'm, I'm proud to say that now, uh, all these years it's on the decline. Um, people's lives are being saved. People are being, um, in the position of receiving treatment and we're in a much different, much more positive, uh, since than we were a few decades ago. You know, I am grateful to see that overdose and fentanyl poisoning deaths are going down. However, the problem hasn't ended, right? I mean, addiction isn't annihilated. I think one thing that worries me is that we're gonna become sort of complacent. Oh, numbers are going down, so the problem is solved. And that's where we cannot be complacent. You're exactly right. We've gotta stand very strong. Uh, addiction is a tough. A horrific situation for any individual to be in. And we've got to be there. We've gotta be ready, we gotta help them again. Uh, being very proactive. Um, and we've gotta remove any stigma that might be around addiction. And I think, unfortunately for all of our states, we saw that and now we've really got to pull that back and go, how are we gonna help these individuals? How do we help these families? How do we set these people on a new journey and a new pathway for their lives? Right, because you can do all the law. I know you are the chief law enforcement officer. You can do all of the law enforcement efforts. So we're gonna talk about some of the law enforcement efforts that you have done in Mississippi that I think are unique and interesting. But you can do all of that. But if you don't address the sort of the public health crisis of this, the addiction part of it, if you don't. Put dollars into that, which I worry at a federal level have been threatened. Um, if you don't do that, then what do you do with all the people who are currently suffering from addiction or those who will in the future? Absolutely. We, we really have to have the, an action plan. We have to be very strategic. And again, we have to have the outreach, we have to talk about it. We have to then bring plans together and help individuals and know that people that are, they're suffering from addiction. Um, and we wanna help them all turn around and be ready to move on in a very positive, uh, pathway. I feel like this, uh, problem, this issue personal to you in some ways because I know you personally have gone out on college campuses. You've worked to get the word out. One pill can kill. I think it's also the de a's slogan. Tell me about that and why this is something that you felt compelled. To do yourself and go out and speak to young people. Well, it, it certainly is very personal, um, when, you know, families that have been, um, affected by this, uh, when you see these families torn apart, the suffering, the, uh, heartbreak, um, and I understand what they're going through and that's why it's like, I feel like in Mississippi we've got to stand up. We, we've got to be out there educating, we've gotta be talking about it. We've gotta bring in all sectors. Um, but we saw, um. There's such a need on college campuses, um, because the drugs were so rampant, the addiction was happening there, and then they couldn't get out of it. They were spiraling downward. So for us, the one pill can kill. I mean, it, as you said it, it's a DEA program, but it's one that we partnered with and has been very, very, uh, strong in our state. Um, but we saw a need to be out on the college campuses. I, I talked to too many parents. Who had lost their children. And a lot of it spiraled from being on a college campus, the accessibility to the drugs, uh, not understanding how to use Naloxone, not understanding about Fentanyl test strips. So that's when we said we're gonna step into this space. Uh, we're gonna have the hard conversation and any person that we can help, any life that we can save. We're going to do that in this office with our partners. Uh, the partners have been incredible. Uh, we did start the, the one pill can kill a few years ago, been very successful. We've been out on a number of our college campuses, our community college campuses, and to see the students come. And to see the administrators come and the faculty and they wanna learn about it. They wanna understand what, what is the addiction issue? They wanna know how do we utilize fentanyl testing strips. Um, when I first took office, the Fentanyl testing strips were deemed drug paraphernalia. Mm-hmm. I asked the legislatures, would you change that because I wanna be able to utilize that as a resource. As a tool. And they did, um, which helped us in all of our steps, in our resource kits, our emergency overdose, our fentanyl harm prevention kits, um, and then again. What is Naloxone? How do you use it? I, I don't want people to be scared of it because again, if they can help someone, they can save a life, then that's what we have been all about doing on these campuses, and we've seen incredible success rate and, and interest from the students who are very willing to understand that their peers, uh, might be using some type of drugs. And again, how can they help and step in if they see an overdose occur? I think that's wonderful. I also went to our legislature and asked them to make fentanyl testing strips legal in my state and, and they did. I always say it's just one tool that we have to keep people alive. For people who are like, well, does that encourage drug use? Well, people are using drugs anyway, and so we just wanna keep people alive until we can get 'em help. We, we haven't had luck in getting Naloxone and fentanyl testing strips on college campuses in my state. In fact, we've had a lot of resistance. Uh, it's almost like, well, there's no problem here. We don't want anyone to think there's a problem here. So how did you overcome that? Did you encounter any resistance in getting on college campuses? We, we really did not. Um, the administration talking to the administration of each campus was very engaging. Uh, I think everybody recognizes that it is on college campuses and they wanted to be in there, um, in involved with the students, talking to them about, again, what is Naloxone, how do you use it? What are the testing strips? So they were very, very helpful. Um, and we would go in and we'd have, uh, hundreds of students. We have faculty, we have, uh, different administrators there. So not only we're teaching them about how to use Naloxone, how to use fentanyl testing strips, um, then we taught them how to look for counterfeit drugs. You know, don't just take anything at all. I mean, they're, the counterfeits are so good, and when you add the fentanyl to it. You, you're just playing Russian roulette. You have no idea. In fact, one of the videos on my website, there are three families and you know, several of the individuals students took it and one of them. Had the, the, the, the lethal overdose of Fentanyl in that pill. So they recognize it and it's exciting to see students stand up and say, no, we wanna learn how to use Naloxone. We wanna understand what Fentanyl testing strips do and how they can save lives. And we wanna spread the word. So the campuses have been great. We've got them where they have put, um, we have Fentanyl harm prevention kits. Um, and we've got, um, emergency overdose boxes. So everything is in there. They're putting them in dorms and common spaces across the campuses. You can go in and get your Fentanyl testing strips and replenish, uh, them as they're being utilized. And Naloxone, we try to make that readily available for any student that might see that there's a need to have it. Well, it's a new year and in 2026 I'm gonna work harder on that in our state. And we have been working over the last few years, but we've gotta get somebody to advocate for us to get in on those college campuses.'cause that is one area where. We know there's a need and we haven't been able to break through. I've talked to, you know, thousands of high school students and told Emily's story and talk and, you know, offered a word of warning to them. But it's really the college kids.'cause once they go, you know, get away from home and, um, they're exposed to so much more. Um. are. And you know, again, we took these, these ideas, uh, uh, fentanyl harm prevention kits and you know, to date we've, we have been able, we did 22,000 of those kits and we've been able to. fantastic. Hand those out to our law enforcement, to our schools, our colleges, our community colleges. Um, and so, you know, last year alone we had nearly 5,000 that we were able to get out and to utilize some of the dorms and the schools. They're putting like boxes on their walls just like you would, uh, for a fire extinguisher to have it available. Um, the overdose kits. Then if you are someone on a college campus or you are a law enforcement officer, you've got everything you need, you know, from the gloves to the naloxone, to anything that you might need. If there's an overdose that's happening and um, we last year alone, were able to get 500 of those out across our state. Yes. it should be as common as a fire extinguisher. I know Minnesota recently passed a law that requires naloxone on every. Floor of every dorm in public universities, which is, you know, a great step. We talked to the, the kid who advocated for that, who lost his brother, um, in that state. So, I mean, it's just, it's good to see it getting on college campuses across the country. And I, I love those efforts that you've done. Are you ready to protect the next generation from the dangers of substance use? Emily's Hope has created a comprehensive K through 12 substance use prevention curriculum designed to educate, empower, and equip students with the tools they need to make healthy choices are age appropriate lessons, starting kindergarten and build through high school using science, real stories and interactive learning to help kids understand their bodies, brains, and risk of drug use. We're already reaching thousands of students across multiple states, and we're just getting started. Visit emily's hope edu.org to learn more and share our curriculum with your school administrators and counselors. At Emily's Hope, we believe prevention begins with education. Let's work together to keep our kids safe. In a previous episode of Grieving Out Loud, we spoke with Will ROPs, who lost his older brother Justin to Fentanyl poisoning. After that loss will pushed to expand access to emergency Naloxone on college campuses in Minnesota. Shortly after Justin died my junior year of college I was working in the student senate at , Minnesota State University Moorhead. And I was kind of inspired because I was in a position to be able to um, meet with state legislators and be involved in politics. And I was inspired by Justin's death to want to do something. it actually took, it wasn't initially after Justin's death. It took me quite a while to kind of just even process what was going on. but then, can't remember the timeline exactly. I think it was three or four months later. Another, um, young man in Pipestone community, Cody anchor passed away from fentanyl poisoning and. That was kind of my moment of realization and I, pardon my French, but I was, it was an oh shit moment for me, really. And I don't know how else to really describe that besides that way, like I said, Pipestone is a very small community. We don't have a Walmart and two. Young, young people with so much potential to do good things in the world passed away within that amount of time, like not even in a half year. And that was my moment where I'm like, I need to do something because this is not a problem. Just in bigger cities, this is not a problem. Um, That's exclusive to people with that make questionable choices. This is. A universal problem that this country's facing and I wanted to do something about it. Thanks. In part to Will's advocacy, Minnesota lawmakers passed a bill during last year's legislative session requiring naloxone be stalked in residence halls at state colleges and universities, making it the third state in the country to adopt such a measure. While Mississippi does not have a similar statewide law, in late 2023, the University of Southern Mississippi became the first in the state to install naloxone overdose emergency kits in residence halls and common areas I wanted to ask you about law enforcement efforts as well, because you formed a special law enforcement teams called a Fentanyl strike force. Is that what it's called? That is exactly right. So again, it, it's all about working together. Everyone has a vital role. Um, to end this, uh, again, as you said, uh, we've got to not only treat it, we've gotta look at the root of addiction. We've gotta look at helping all these individuals and we've got to prevent any further deaths. Well, law enforcement is a critical part of how we should, uh, en enhance that partnership. Again, they're out there, they're seeing it. So the Fentanyl Strike Force did a couple things, and it's still doing this all the time. Um, we've trained nearly 600. We're maybe at 700 now, law enforcement officers, state and local law enforcement officers across our state. So we're training them on. What to look for. What do counterfeit drugs look for versus the, um, prescription drugs? What do you do if you encounter someone who is having, um, a seizure? Uh, how do you administer Naloxone? We've found that, you know, many different law enforcement, uh, groups, uh, and agencies did not have nearly enough n lox. That they should be carrying out there, taught them about fentanyl testing strips. And then the other part was to teach them how to stay safe themselves. Because again, if you come up on an overdose and it's fentanyl, uh, we all know that it could be very lethal just to the, the touch, uh, or any type of, uh, situation where you are around that individual. So. That was, uh, part of our fentanyl strike force. So having, you know, all these different, um, law enforcement officers across our state, if we need to do a strike and we go in and we say, we know there are a lot of drugs coming across here. So our job is to go in and disrupt that flow before it gets into our communities. Because the reality is these drug dealers are just paddling deaths to our kids, and they don't care. It's all about the money. It doesn't matter. So how can we disrupt the flow of those drugs? Um, you know, there have been times we went in with our fentanyl strike force, um, and we found, you know, over 70,000 plus counterfeit pills to pill, pill presses. Um, so we're always finding things like that, but we've stopped it from going into those communities in those areas and saved lives every time we've been able to do that. there specific strategies that states can use to try to stop the flow of fentanyl into their state? I mean, are there certain things, that you're doing with these fentanyl strike forces that aspect? Well, there, there is. So again, as you're inve involved, as an entire team, um, and law enforcement is talking, and you might see that there's a drug trafficking, uh, operation that might be flown across North Mississippi. Well, as we all look at it together, then, then the, the agencies come together and we go, okay, this is where we can go in and stop this. Um, and, and they're usually big flows like that. So yes, we, we do talk with other states, with other law enforcement agencies, with our federal partners, uh, and everyone is engaged. And I'll tell you, it's been so successful to be able to have the one pill can kill out there, to work with all of our partners across the state with our law enforcement. Um, just last year, um, the numbers have gone down in Mississippi, we are down 39%. From overdose deaths than it was just a few years ago. And it's like, I tell people like, we lost so many mississippians two years ago. It's like a big plane going down and then us being complacent and that's where we cannot be. We've got to continue to fight and, and to, uh, stop the flow of drugs. Well, and like every state, Mississippi has tens, hundreds of millions of dollars in opioid settlement money coming in. And now, uh, whatever. There's a lot of money like that. It seems like there's a big money grab, right? Everybody has an idea of how it should be spent, how quickly it should go out, the right way to spend it. Um, nobody is without, uh, getting scrutinized, um, for what is happening with these funds in Mississippi. Tell me what you're doing. So it's been very important for us to, to. Try to move those monies out. Again, we have to be very proactive. Uh, every dollar we can spend that hopefully helps an individual, um, or prevents an individual from going down the addiction path. Uh, how can we help those families? So, very comprehensive look at it. So our legislature, uh, the way we were set up with our settlement had the opioid, uh, advisory, settlement commission or council, um, which I chaired. We had 37 members. We just went through the entire, uh, last part of the year into December, we sent our plan over to the legislature. They will then now look at these lists of projects that have been vetted, um, based on the amount of dollars, what tier they'd like to, to administer the funds to. Um, currently we have about $105 million that we've received so far. We'll probably totally get about$400 million over the 18 years. Um, so. It's a lot of money. It is a lot of money. Um, but, you know, we've gotta be very methodical. We've gotta be very strategic about, um, spend it in the right areas. Again, how are we helping now? How are we preventing what's our, uh, resource and education look like? And again, being able to help all those individuals and families that we can. So ultimately, does your legislature approve the projects? They do. The way our ours is set up, you know, some states, uh, the Attorney general can, uh, direct where the funds will be, uh, utilized. Uh, certainly we are providing the legal, uh, information and things like that, but it, it set me up with the chair with these 37 members, uh, to be able to give some direction. So we're anxious. We've sent the, um, settlement proposal over there for the first, um. 105 million and hopefully we'll get some, uh, responses very quickly from our appropriations of both the House and the Senate. Right. I think that's what this money needs to start getting into the communities where it's most needed and, and going to work with prevention, immediate access to treatment. You know, that's what we really all need, right? Is immediate access to treatment when someone is ready, One part of that too is, um, and I think it's really important and we, we have a number of different, um, recipients, um, involving mental health. Uh, and again, I think that's gonna be extremely significant for us as we also address that with the addiction and again, the prevention and the, um, the, the tools and the resources. Right, because mental health and addiction certainly go hand in hand. there's no doubt about that. So you have to address the whole problem and the entire person. As the case may be. Um, in every state in my state, there's been a little bit of battle over who should control the money, how fast it's going out, where it should go. You've had some scrutiny in Mississippi over, you know, some of it allowed for general government expenses, that kind of thing. How have you addressed those issues as they've come up? Well, that's a great question. So the way our legislation is written again, um, having the council and the vetting process, uh, we received about 127 applications. Uh, for the utilization of the monies to be administered for a variety of projects, different amounts, different tiers. Um, and again, that's what we looked at, sent over to the legislature. Uh, again, fairness again, sometimes it might be small dollar amounts because that community, that may be what they need. It could be more significant facilities where you actually needed, uh. Places for individuals to be housed, uh, in the court system was also, um, uh, an addition, um, to the recipients. Um, certainly mental health. So we did look at so many different areas and we're excited that we received that many applications. Yeah. And, and it comes to oversight of these funds. I think that's one thing a lot of people are thinking about, especially as we see other states with major fraud problems from COVID dollars, that kind of thing. And I always think about that as a former investigative journalist, uh, about, you know, the accountability of the money and how it's spent, who, who was overseeing all of it. Well, uh, certainly the legislature, but we'll all be a part of that. There will be guardrails put in place as far as, um, accounting, uh, as far as, uh, certain dollars that you have to be invested if you're, you're not just gonna be the recipient on certain things. You also have to invest. Monies into the project as well, which again, makes everybody be involved. Um, so we feel very comfortable that with the different guardrails we'll be able to protect the dollars. Um, let's talk for a moment about human trafficking and how that plays a role in what you see as the attorney general in your state happening with human trafficking and drug use and overdoses. Well, um, you know, I get a lot of questions. People say, do we really have human trafficking in our country and in our state? Absolutely. Uh, and it's right here in Mississippi, as it is in your state, as it is in every state across our country. Um, but sadly enough, uh, these victims and they are truly victims. Not one person said, I, I'd like to be a part of a human trafficking ring. I'd like to be trafficked. And we see that over 50% that are. Trafficked, um, are done so by a family member or somebody that they loved and trusted, and that makes it even harder. Um, we again, we call it be the solution is our initiative. Uh, we're getting ready to kick off phase four, um, getting everybody involved, whether it's. Uh, public partners, private partners, sectors of people, whether it's the medical groups, whether it's, uh, the energy utility sectors, gaming for us, um, department of Education, making sure all of our, um, school bus drivers are certified in human trafficking. Our department of public safety has been a huge advocate and a partner, so we've seen all of these individuals and groups be involved, and now we're gonna be moving, certainly with our faith-based community because again. They play a very vital role in our human trafficking as well. So we started this, we did a, the human trafficking task force, kinda like we did the Fentanyl strike force. Again, trained over 600 law enforcement officers across our state. Um, we've done probably over 60 multi-jurisdictional operations in the state in the last few years to go in and rescue these individuals. Um, and we have now. Um, been able to rescue about 380 individuals. 23 of those were minors. But when we do, almost always, we find drugs. We find weapons, and most of these victims, and we see so many young women, uh, they now have substance abuse issues too, because to do what they've had to do day in and day out in these trafficking situations. It requires drugs because these, these pimps, these johns, these traffickers are pushing the drugs to keep these, uh, victims at bay. So, um, we do see that as quite the issue and we're prepared. We're all trained when we go in to, to recover and do a take down that we know we're going to probably. Find the drugs. Uh, and we know that these young individuals, these young women, and, and I'll tell you some of these young girls primarily, they started off early on. Now they may be beyond 18 or 21, but they've been brainwashed. This is all they know. They don't have any other way to live, and then many of 'em now have these young babies too. So it's a big circle that we're trying to work on as far as our task. Force our, you know, and then we prosecute these traffickers. Um, and then we are really helping with our partners in facilities again, how can we help them without any shame or blame, get back into society. And what kind of success rate are you having getting mostly young women, uh, getting these women into treatment, getting them the help that they need? Well, it, it has been very successful. I, I will say we, we also run a human trafficking, uh, fund and we have, uh, different groups that will apply for monies and we're over nine and a half million in the last few years we've been able to administer to these different facilities, um, because again, it's always about. The long game, how do we help them get back into their, their, their journey? Um, and when we do this, when we go in for a take down and rescue, it's very much a holistic approach. Again, our officers are trained to be kind, compassionate, to understand what it is to be the victim. Um, we have sexual assault nurses when we do a take down. We have counselors, we have CPS if need be, and we recently added survivors. To talk to the victims and those survivors. Um, again, substance abuse. They've been up and down, and now they can sit across the table from those victims and say, you can make it. These people are all here to help. Yeah, like a peer support specialist. That's what we have for our post overdose response team. Um, we have peers that have been, been there, been through it, and are able, I think that is so important. anybody suffering from substance use disorder and or human trafficking, both, right, to have somebody who has walked in their shoes. Because when you see just law enforcement or medical professionals, you know, they seem so removed and so different from the actual victim. You can get more information about the Emily's Hope Post Overdose Response Team or Port by heading to our website, Emily's Hope Charity. We've included a link for you in the show notes. You'll also find a link to previous grieving out loud episode where I spoke with a man who says the service changed his life. I was at a girlfriend's house, Watching her dog while she was at work and I was just in full blown withdrawals. Um, she had found a box of drugs at my house and had given them to my mom and told my mom what was happening. And so I had gone home before I went to her house and I was like, you, you know what's going on here? Where's my stuff? And it was gone. And I started panicking. I was like, oh my God. Like this is not gonna be good. This is not gonna be good. And I ended up finding a pillow in my car, um, that I remember seeing that was sitting there in the cup holder. So I took that and I was like, I was okay. I was still a little sick, but I was okay. Went over to her house, let her dog out, and she said I could spend the night there. So I was just in her bed and I started shaking, you know, that familiar feeling, started sweating, you know, I'm just. Really hot and sweaty, but I'm freezing and I am terrified of everything. You know, everything's making me jump. I couldn't, I didn't want to get up. I couldn't eat, I couldn't drink. All I could do was just sit there and shake and puff on my little weed pen, you know, praying the God like, you know, either kill me or get me out of this. And the next morning, um, she ended up getting home at 4:00 AM I must have fallen asleep. So she just went to bed. I woke up the next morning and she's like, you know, trying to feed me. And I'm like, no. I like, I, she's like, you gotta get up and go to work. I'm like, I can't get up. Like I can't do anything. Like, please like, you know, she's panicking and running around the house. Like, what do I do? I don't know what to do, what should I do? You know, and I'm laying there like, it's gonna be okay. Like, calm down. But I was in bad shape. I. I felt frozen. Like I didn't know what to do. I didn't know who to call. I didn't want to call anybody. I just wanted to lay there and just suffer and just get through it. I just wanted to suffer it out, you know, just, just get through it. And she called my mom and told her to come get me because I'm obviously not doing well. And so she showed up and. I remember walking outside and she goes, you look like shit. And I was like, yeah, I feel like shit. And I just kind of threw myself in the back of her car and she took me to Sanford Emergency Room and they got me in and. I just wanted it all to end. Like I was just done with it. I was done, honestly, like I didn't, I didn't want to be there. I didn't want to be home. I didn't, I didn't want to be alive. You know? It's like he, you know, this is the same thing. Same thing. I keep adding, go back here. But this time Cameron's emergency room visit was different. While he was in the hospital, the EMILY'S HOPE post overdose response team was contacted and a peer support specialist visited Cameron, offering resources for treatment and care, along with emotional support. Here's specialist Vanessa Needles So what it means to be a peer support specialist is you take your lived experience, all the pain, all the darkness, And you use that to shed light in somebody else's life who's also going through the similar pain and darkness that we go through. How long have you been in recovery? I've been in recovery almost seven years now. And why did you choose to become a peer support specialist? I think being a person in long term recovery, I learned in very early recovery that the only way that I can keep what I have is by giving it to another person. So, not only is it you know, a privilege to be able to help another person, but it's also my responsibility as someone who has made it in recovery, to give back to the people who were in the same hopeless position that I was in, you know, before I ever knew that recovery was even an option. Why is the Post Overdose Response Team, Emily's Hope Post Overdose Response Team, so important? Yeah, so I think, emily's Hope is providing a great opportunity, with the PORT team, because what we are able to do is we are able to go meet the person, and as a person, who overdosed themselves, I remember, when I overdosed, I didn't know anybody in the room. There were cops. It was scary. Like, I just wanted to get out of there. So I think the greatest opportunity when it comes to Emily's Hope and the PORT team is providing an opportunity for somebody in recovery. To stand in front of someone who's going through something that is terrifying and let them know that they are not in any sort of trouble, that, you know, I've been through the same thing that you're going through right now, so I know all the feelings, I know how scared you are, but I'm here for you, I'm gonna support you, and what are our next steps, to keep you from being in this position again? Vanessa came in and, you know, right away I was like, you know, I was like, I know you, you know where I know you from somewhere. And she explained who she was and why she was there. Um, I just needed somebody, you know, I needed, I needed help, you know, and they were there and I was gonna take whatever help I could get. I. So she came in and I recognized her from, we used to work together at the car wash. And so we were talking about that, you know, she had me laughing and smiling and her and my mom were talking and she gave me some stuff and, you know, it was like, it's like a little breath of fresh air. Um, 'cause that was, I was doing bad. If you'd like to hear that full conversation, you can find it in the show notes. And while you're there, we'd appreciate it if you take just a moment to rate and review this podcast and share it with someone who may find it helpful. It really does help increase our algorithm. Together we can raise awareness, reduce stigma surrounding substance use disorder, and help more people get the support they need. Have you lost a loved one to overdose or fentanyl poisoning? I'd like to invite you to share their story on our new Emily's Hope memorial website called More Than Just a Number. They were our children, siblings, cousins, husbands, wives, aunts, uncles, and friends. So much more than just a number. You can submit a memorial today on more than just a number.org. Again, we may be doing the human trafficking, but we also, the fentanyl strike force is gonna be there playing their part too, because again, the drugs are there. If you get the trafficker many times he is the drug pedler as well. Um, and so we have to be prepared, um, on, on those lines. And then there's so many other things that come with that. Um, child exploitation, the internet, crimes against children, uh, what are, as I call 'em, the social media cartel, are doing that enhances drug use, that enhances, uh, our children in the online platform issues. They're pushing that all at the expense of our children because it's all about the dollars. Yes. And I, I've sadly had parents on this program who have lost their children because social media, they, they either bought a pill with fentanyl, on and off social media, or they were, you know, lured by somebody on social media and trafficked. And then poisoned as well. so I've had those parents on this podcast, you know, and it's just the social media companies need to be held accountable and unfortunately at a national level that hasn't happened. Yeah, you're right. We, we've got to hold them accountable. Uh, I'm certainly in the middle of a, a big lawsuit right now in the Fifth Circuit, the Walker Montgomery Protecting Children Online Act, uh, to hold those different companies that are in our state accountable. You know, they need to verify these children's ages. Uh, they need to have parental consent before they get on these social media platforms, and they need to be ready to mitigate any harm that they've done. And just like you said, they're out there that you can, accessibility to drugs, accessibility to human trafficking, the cyber bullying, the sextortion. This law was named after a wonderful young man, uh, in Starkville, Mississippi, 16-year-old who lost his life to sextortion. Um, we didn't have sex torsion as, uh, on the books we do now, and the law has been amazing. Um, and, but again, we're fighting the big tech every day. We're fighting 'em in court. We're gonna win. We're gonna continue to protect our children and protect and help our parents. So this case that you filed, it would be something that would put certain requirements in place for the social media companies. Yes. So when the law was passed, it was kind of a two-prong. The first part was sextortion to make sure that that was an actual offense, which is great because again. We lost this young man. Uh, the second part was to be able to, um, hold these companies accountable. So the law said you have to meet all these requirements or you may not operate. Um, and so they started fighting us. The day it went into effect, big tech sued the state of Mississippi. So it's called Net Choice, and that's our case right now in the Fifth Circuit. Um, and again, it is so important to be there for our children and to help our parents. Right. And parents are really in the dark when it comes to a lot of these things. Uh, they really don't know what's going on or understand everything that's out there on social media, uh, when it comes to their kids. And so it's so important that somebody, I mean, if people were dealing your child drugs on the street corner or picking them up. To, you know, um, abuse them in some way. mean, law enforcement would have every right to step in and stop it. Right. So how is a social media platform any different than the street corner? Agree, but they think that they have, you know, the free opportunity to push all those different things. I mean, you just look at the things that they're pushing. The drugs, cyber bullying, sextortion, eating disorder, suicide. I mean, we just have so many of those different platforms that are so harmful to our children. Right. And sadly, as soon as you address one platform, it seems like another one pops up to take its place. Um, and that's the hard part is like playing whack-a-mole a little bit. Uh, but if it could apply to all, I, I'll be really curious to see how this case unfolds in your estate. Thank you because it's, um, several states have passed very similar. Pieces of legislation, um, and everyone is winning. It's just, uh, you know, pushing through the process. Um, but again, like I said, uh, this conglomeration of social media companies suit us day one, one. Um, but we're, we're gonna keep fighting. We, we know we're gonna continue to win. Um, we have to, our children are at risk and our parents need the help and they need the assistance. If you could kind of wave a magic wand or have a crystal ball, maybe I should say, um, and, and think about the future for Mississippi. I, as you embark on these projects and, and spending the opioid settlement dollars that you have on your own personal, you know, crusade on college campuses and things like that, 10 years from now. Where would you like to see Mississippi and the state of the opioid fentanyl crisis? Well, you know, if I could do that, I would love to be able to have a. Uh, conversations say it no longer exists in the state of Mississippi. That we do not have that. Um, but I'd certainly like to say we're ready. We are helping these individuals. We are acknowledging that IC addiction is there and that it's real. And what are we doing right now to help from a decade now, what it would look like. And I think that's what's so important. There are just so many steps. We need to be reached out. We need to be addressing this in each one of our communities. And it does take everyone. I mean, it's certainly a team effort on how we might get to that point. And we're going to, and that's our. Our goal is to do that, but, um, whether it's the community involvement, our faith base, our law enforcement, it is everyone acknowledging and stepping in and being really strong about it. Um, because it's just like anybody, no one wants to be in that situation. No one, um, would like to be in an addictive space. Everybody would like to live and be a, a great part of society. Right, right. No one chooses that path. I think knowingly, willingly thinks that this is, this is where I wanna end up addicted to substances and possibly, you know, losing my life to these powerful fentanyl and other analogs that are even more powerful. Are you seeing any of those in Mississippi? The more powerful analogs, um, you know, 40 times more powerful than Fentanyl, Ezines. We, we are, we're seeing some of it sort of, uh, do a slow creek into the state and you know, like. We both are recognizing it is coming in. Um, uh, the hard part is too, is not having, uh, quite the antidote on the other side. You know, the strong naloxone, that type of, you take care of that. Um, thankfully we've not seen too terribly much in our state. Um, and you know, what I wanna do is continue to say to people that are doing that, if you are the drug trafficker, we're going after you. And hopefully that continues to keep them out. If you're the human trafficker, we're gonna go after you too. And many times they are the dual type of positioning and we're gonna prosecute you because these are individuals here in the state of Mississippi. They don't deserve this. They didn't wanna be a part of this, and we have to be ready to stand strong for them. Yeah, I think it's, it's tough because it seems like as soon as you know, we've address, we're addressing the fentanyl issue. Overdose numbers are going down, but then the drug landscape changes, right? So as long as you have the bad actors. Willing to act outta greed. I mean, I think 99.9% of the time it's out of greed. Um, then, you know, it's just hard to stay on top of. And so you really have to get to the root of the problem and prevent it on the front end before people so you can decrease demand. Well, you're exactly right. And one of the things that we've done in our state, which has been extremely successful too, is across our state, we have been out doing Shred and Med Day. Free days. We work many times with Boy scouts, other organizations, uh, across the state, and we say, you know, bring in if your, um, documents you'd like to be shredded, we'll do it for you free of charge, but also bring your meds. So we talk about if there are medicines in your, um, medicine cabinet, in your, any type of thing like that. Bring it and we will destroy that. And so we just hit a little over 700 pounds of drugs that people across the state of Mississippi brought in. So again, it's, it's the outreach. It's the communication. Don't leave these lying around. Don't let 'em get into the wrong hands. And here we'll try to help dispose of those. And again, hopefully keep an individual from, you know, getting those, those drugs into their system. Right. Make it easy on people and keep it out of the hands of oftentimes kids, right, kids. That's the first access is at home. Um, So we look, we always look for different ways that we can be involved with. The one pill can kill what we're doing, but certainly how can we reach out to the communities. This has been a, a very successful way we've done for the last few years as well. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for sharing what you're doing in Mississippi with me and with our listeners and viewers and I, I just really appreciate it and appreciate all the effort that you're taking on. Oh, thank you so much. It's such an honor to be on with you, and I appreciate all you do. Thank you, um, for your strength and your faith and all that you do to make a difference. I appreciate that. And thank you for listening to this episode of Grieving Out Loud and learning more about an epidemic that impacts our country every day. Tune in every week for a new episode. Next week, I sit down with Katie Lang. She never imagined she would struggle with alcohol addiction, even pretending to drink more than she actually did on her 21st birthday. But over time she spent more time around heavy drinkers. Her habits changed and she found herself unable to stop even though it was causing turmoil in her life. After a couple of attempts to quit, she found a treatment that worked. In treatments, sometimes we can. Like make, like be punitive toward people and like make them feel less than human. Like, oh, you're an addict. Like, we need to tell you what to do. You're not in your right mind. And I find that if people are empowered to make their own decisions, like, and they see themselves have that control again over alcohol, it just, you know, builds their character, builds their confidence, um, lets them trust themselves again. The treatment Katie found success with is one that's not often talked about. We'll dive into what it is and how it changed her life. Next week on Grieving Out Loud, thank you again for listening. Until next time, wishing you faith, hope, and courage. This podcast is produced by Casey Wallenberg, king and Kaylee Fitz.