Opioid crisis in the US
Her daughter died from fentanyl: mother warns against drugs with a huge advertising sign
Patricia Saldivar’s message: “Fentanyl kills” (defaced by the editorial staff)
© Patricia Saldivar / Tiktok
Thousands die of substance abuse, mostly fentanyl, in the United States. Including the daughter of Patricia Saldivar. The mother now wants to explain the dangers.
Cassandra Saldivar was only 22 years old. The young woman died in June after taking a tablet containing the substance fentanyl – a drug that has been on the rise in the United States for some time. She leaves behind a two year old son. Her mother was hard hit by the loss, but she wants to help prevent more people from falling victim to the drug.
That’s why Patricia Saldivar has rented a huge advertising space in Arlington, Texas – in the parking garage right next to the stadium where the Dallas Cowboys football team plays its home games. Her deceased daughter’s face can now be seen on the billboard, along with the message: “It only took one pill. Fentanyl kills.”
The drug fentanyl continues to spread
Patricia Saldivar paid $ 2,100 for it. But this money is just as valuable to her as the memory of her daughter, as is the prospect of possibly being able to warn young people about drug abuse and its consequences. “There are always fentanyl deaths and I don’t want others to go through what my family is going through,” she told ABC News. “I want to make people aware that they should not take anything that has not been prescribed for them.”
As the broadcaster CBS News reports, Patricia Saldivar also distributed flyers at the university that her daughter was visiting. She also tries to reach people on social media apps like TikTok. “It can happen to anyone,” said Salvidar. “She was so young. She had her whole life ahead of her.”
93,000 drug deaths in the US last year
The synthetic opioid fentanyl is highly addictive and is up to 50 times more potent than heroin. Just two milligrams of it can be fatal. Most of the powder comes from China. It ends up in the USA via Mexican drug cartels, but also through sales via social media or the darknet. A devastating opioid crisis has ruled the country since the mid-1990s and is now spreading through all walks of life. Of the 93,000 deaths from drug overdoses in the United States in 2020, one in two took fentanyl.
Patricia Saldivar was not aware of the problem until she was confronted with it in such a tragic way. “If I had known about this earlier, I would have warned my children. I would have said, watch out, be careful,” she told ABC News. “A lot of people thank me and say that they will talk to their children.”
Sources: ABC News / CBS News / Centers for Disease Control and Prevention