USA First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff

Dear First Lady M K Pritzker,
I am an ambassador for the Drug Epidemic Memorial Wall. I lost my beautifully talented,
2nd born son, Luke on August 23, 2021, at the age of 25. After not hearing from him for
26 hours, I made several phone calls (as he was temporarily staying in Chicago; (we live
in Michigan) only to find out my son had passed away in his bedroom of Fentanyl
Poisoning. Luke had a deadly mixture of Xanax and Fentanyl in his system. Our family
has been completely devastated by his loss, and we miss him every minute.
Luke was a beautiful giving soul, he had 3 college degrees, ran his own business, and
managed a Crumble Bakery. He brought us constant laughter, he painted the most
beautiful paintings, and he was a talented clothing line designer. He had his own clothing
line, Takin All Bet$, which we have since carried on raising awareness of illicit drugs. He
was a brother, a cousin, a son, grandson, nephew; and loved deeply. Our family has been
left with a complete hole in our hearts. Luke has five brothers, he was the second of six,
each of his brothers mourn him outright, loudly, and carry a heavy burden. Our entire
family has sought counseling and therapy and we work in outreach. I work with nonprofit
groups trying to bring awareness and education to a society that has put such a stigma on
this issue. It is hard to make anyone see the devastation that Fentanyl is causing this
nation if they haven’t experienced it directly.
My son suffered with SUD, he entered rehabilitation in Dec 2020; upon his return home he
started his daily counseling and follow up programs. Unfortunately, when Covid-19 hit and
most programs were delayed or shut down, this created an environment where
maintaining sobriety became very difficult. Luke relapsed after 6 months of sobriety in the
summer of 2020. He tried to turn himself around, went to NA meetings, (which we
attended), started meditation, and attending church seeking to turn his life around. The
Covid-19 Pandemic took a toll on so many, that not only lost their lives to the virus; but so
many more that were trying to get it together.
I understand that the as first lady you support women’s justice and support improving lives
of women and children affected by the justice system. I am seeking more conscious
efforts and response to the overwhelming statistics of death by Fentanyl. There were
more than 1,400 fatal opioid poisonings in Chicago in 2021, the highest number ever
recorded in the city. In the article attached, that number for 2021 may be severely
understated. (https://publichealth.uic.edu/news-stories/new-study-reveals-undercount-ofcook-county-opioid-deaths/)
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