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

Brent had the compassion of a giant, he would do anything anytime if it involved helping
someone else. He went to Fort Worth to feed the homeless and to share his story to help
them, he went with me to Beaumont after the flood to take supplies and didn’t just drop them
off we walked the streets going house to house helping people search for precious items in
the mess.
During Brent’s sobriety journey he was happy, and his life was good but that didn’t take away
the addiction as when he relapsed it was always when things were going really good in life so
nothing to trigger it as it always came out of nowhere as it often does for addicts. The one
thing Brent struggled with was the shame associated with heroin so when the cravings would
come out of nowhere, he wouldn’t talk about them because he was ashamed which would
ultimately lead to him giving in to cravings and using.
I believe that the opioid epidemic is getting worse daily and affects all ages and
demographics. Yes, the government has cracked down on prescribing oxycontin but that does
not mean that those that are already addicted just let go of the addiction and were suddenly
healed from it. Now the drug dealers are having a field day with the crack down on real
oxycontin as they turn OxyContin addicts into heroin & fentanyl addicts because all they care
about is selling drugs and making money just as Purdue Pharma did with oxycontin.
Drug dealers making fake pills out of fentanyl such as Xanax, Adderall, Oxy and Percocet is
taking away life after life as teenagers’ experiment with drugs and take a pill thinking it is
something that it is not. This doesn’t just take the child away from the parent, but it also takes
away the legacy they would have made. Teenagers should be able to learn from their
mistakes not die from them! Had fentanyl been around 16 years ago when Brent started
experimenting as a teen he would never have survived, and I would have never met the love
of my life.
The point I am trying to make is that people are suffering and need our help, so we need to be
proactive and learn how to help them to the best of our ability. We also need to educate those
that have never tried opioids, so they do NOT try them! I cannot go back in time and bring my
love back but I can fight to help educate others, so they don’t lose the ones they love. We can
do this by having a memorial wall that for generations people can go visit at our Austin State
Capital. Schools can have field trips there and that will help with our mission.
#BrentCrawfordMatters
Sincerely,
Tina Crawford
Wife of Brent Crawford, Forever 31
Grapevine, TX
980