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Nationwide campaign on the dangers of fentanyl reaches Tampa with new billboard

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Published  September 4, 2024 4:19pm EDT
Opioid Epidemic
FOX 13 News

New billboards raise overdose awareness

Families in the Bay Area are joining a billboard campaign to share the stories of their loved ones lost to fentanyl.

TAMPA, Fla. - A nationwide push to raise awareness about the dangers of fentanyl is growing in the Tampa Bay area.

More families are joining a campaign to share the stories of their loved ones and expand the campaign in the area.

"Last year, I lost Janelle in January and my brother Frederick in October," Rosalyn Ricketts said.

READ: PSTA making Narcan more accessible in hopes of reversing opioid overdoses

Ricketts said her daughter-in-law and brother both died after fentanyl overdoses. A new billboard on East Dr. MLK Jr. Boulevard in Tampa now shows rows of faces of loved ones who have been lost to overdoses.

Tammy Plakstis helped bring these billboards to the Tampa Bay area, after losing her son Dylan to a fentanyl overdose in 2020. She said her son took a different drug that ended up having fentanyl in it.

"Dylan, he was my firstborn child," Plakstis said. "He was on the wrestling team in high school. He was a singer."

Plakstis said she didn’t know much about fentanyl at the time, and she didn’t expect this to touch her own family.

MORE: Drug overdoses surge in some states: 5 takeaways on numbers that 'are people's lives,' expert says

"A lot of people think addicts are, you know, people on the street corner, you know, passed out and stuff like that," Plakstis said.

She has been working to educate other families about the dangers of fentanyl. The billboard campaign was born from Rachel’s Angels, a nationwide organization that has spread to the Bay Area.

Families across the country are finding common ground in advocating the dangers of fentanyl. Ricketts said her daughter-in-law used a different drug that turned out to be laced with fentanyl.

"I never, never, never would have expected this to happen," Ricketts said. "But, I think most mothers and siblings would say the same thing."

Ricketts started the nonprofit, Letz Grieve Together, to bring people who are grieving the loss of a loved ones together. She hopes that her daughter-in-law’s story serves as a message about the dangers of illicit drugs.

"Janelle was a loving mother that made poor choices," Ricketts said. "And, we all make poor choices that we have to suffer the consequences."

READ: US overdose deaths decline slightly in 2023, CDC reports

The call for more addiction recovery resources and education grows stronger. Plakstis said she is now starting an organization named after her own son, to expand the work of Rachel’s Angels.

"This is just not about, ‘Oh, well, my child doesn't do that,’" Plakstis said. "Never say ‘my child,’ because there's young adults, young kids, you know, school-age, thinking, ‘Oh, here's a Percocet, here's a pill. Try a pill.’ They're trying a pill. They never used anything before in their life, and they're dying."

The mothers hopes the stories behind the faces on the billboards will send a message.

"You have one life," Ricketts said.

A rally will be held on September 21, at the billboard near 802 East Dr. MLK Jr. Boulevard, to raise awareness about the dangers of fentanyl.

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