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

Dear First Lady Gwen Walz,
I am an ambassador for the Drug Epidemic Memorial Wall. I lost my lovely, first-born son,
Joshua, on August 2, 2022, at the age of 44. His 20-year-old daughter found him deceased in
his kitchen after attempting to text message him and he was not answering her texts. Joshua
died of methamphetamine toxicity and fentanyl poisoning. His death was a complete shock to
his three children, four siblings, an entire neighborhood of friends, as well as me. We mourn his
daily presence in our lives.
Josh was an intelligent man, as a child he always scored in the 99th percentile on the Iowa Test
of Basic Skills. He was charismatic, and had been employed as a salesman, cook, baker,
fisherman, and construction worker. He had started his own company Fox Lawn. I miss his
laugh, his knowledge, and his smile. He was dad to Skyler, 25, Abbey, 21, and Alyster, 15. He
was a son, brother, and father. His death created a loss for more than our family, as an entire
neighborhood in Winona, MN lost their yard worker, snow-blower, soup maker, bread baker and
member of Neighborhood Watch. He was loved and respected by his neighbors, and they
suffered a great loss and feel eerily unsafe without him residing close by. There are no words to
describe the loss his brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and children are
experiencing. The grief at times is unspeakable, unbearable and unstoppable.
In 2021, an average of nearly four Minnesotans died each day from a drug overdose or fentanyl
poisoning, with the total annual number of drug deaths increasing 29% from 2020. Minnesota
currently loses 1,354 lives a year to this epidemic, and I am committed to ending these losses
and honoring my son and the other children’s lives and memory.
In your role as an advocate, you have worked tirelessly for education at all levels and
specifically, bringing education to the prison system. I’m hopeful as a mother to two adult
children you will understand the urgency I and countless other mothers in Minnesota feel
towards ending this drug epidemic and educating our children of the dangers presented to them
daily.
Would you assist us in finding a permanent location for a Drug Epidemic Memorial Wall within
our Capitol? We have created two memorial walls, one with photos and one with names. I am
including Joshua’s frame, below. These digital walls and albums update automatically. We
would also like the photos displayed in hard copy format. The wall of names can be projected
on a wall so parents can touch their loved one’s name. We would like our loved ones to be
treated like victims. They were all victims of Purdue Pharma, an American cartel. Now, they
are victims of the Chinese criminal networks and the Mexican Cartels. We are using the word
“drugism” for the prejudice toward drug users. Minnesota moms would be honored to meet
with you and work together to prevent this from happening ever again.
Sincerely,
Malia Fox, mother of Joshua Fox F44
Winona, MN
549