Tulsa Nonprofit Hosting Rally To Raise Awareness On Fentanyl, Drug Risks

A Tulsa nonprofit is holding a rally at the Tulsa County courthouse to help spread awareness of the dangers of illicit drugs and fentanyl poisoning.

Diane Searle and Rebekah Brown from Families Helping Families joined News On 6 at 4 p.m. on Wednesday to talk about this event.

Jonathan Cooper: tell us about how it got started and what it is.

Diane Searle: Well, we are a family supporting families in this drug crisis in Oklahoma. And I started the group in 2018 after losing my daughter, Jillian, and I felt like I was alone and there weren't too many other parents that I thought were going through the same thing I did. So I started my little group with five moms and five posters out in front of the Tulsa County Courthouse. And sadly, today we're almost 400 members. Yeah,

Jonathan Cooper: You had mentioned this is not a group that you want to see grow. Rebecca, tell us how you got involved with it and to have kind of a leadership role like this.

Rebekah Brown: I lost my son, Cole, on Sept. 2, 2021. I was in a very bad place. He passed from fentanyl poisoning. He took a Percocet that was laced with enough fentanyl in it to take three grown men's lives, pretty much. And I was in a very bad spot, so I reached out and was connected with Diane, and I jumped in and went to my first dinner and met all the ladies and Diane, and heard their stories, and I just had such a connection with them. I told Diane, you know, I need a job to do. I need to do something. I didn't feel that my son died for nothing, and I and I wanted people to be educated on it, because, unfortunately, in 2021 we just weren't talking about fentanyl and the dangers of it very much. So that's how I got involved with the group.

Jonathan Cooper: Tell us how important it is to just have these events to talk about these things we do. So many stories about these fentanyl overdose doses, and it seems like it's in everything.

Searle: It's in every drug. There's not any drug on the street anymore that does not have fentanyl in it. The thing is, if you don't know how much fentanyl you're getting in it, you have no idea when they press pills or when they sprinkle it in heroin or cocaine. It's so many families are affected by it now, everybody knows somebody who's died from it, and we want families to understand and know that we are here for them. We've been through it. We know what's going on, and we will be their support system any way we can, and please don't ever think you're alone in this fight, because we're there for you.

Jonathan Cooper: Tell us about this event tomorrow (Thursday) and how people watching right now can get involved as well.

Searle: This is our seventh annual courthouse rally. We will be out in front of the Tulsa County Courthouse from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Our district attorney will also be with us. We also have legislators come and elected officials. We have the news media out there. We will have also resources out there. We hand out Narcan, which we believe everyone should know how to use. Narcan. It's just kind of a household word right now that we need to have Narcan. Everybody has to have it. We're there to answer questions. We're here to support you. We have a Facebook group, and you'll meet a lot of parents who are going through exactly what you're going through.