Bill to combat youth fentanyl crisis to be introduced after multiple teens overdose in a Texas school district

CARROLLTON, Texas — Ryan Vaughn's daughter, Sienna, was just 16 years old when she died of an overdose after unknowingly ingesting fentanyl.

The cheerleader and high school junior had just finished enjoying a barbecue at home with her family Feb. 19, when she and a friend went upstairs to hang out.

“We discovered them an hour to two hours after they had taken these pills. My daughter was already dead,” Vaughn said Monday. Her friend was able to be revived. The girls had taken what they believed was Percocet but actually contained fentanyl, the highly potent and addictive synthetic opiate that can be deadly with a dose as small as the tip of a pencil.

“She made one mistake," Vaughn said. "But because fentanyl is so deadly, that mistake cost her her life.”

Vaughn believes more data collection on the drugs circulating in the community and better communication with parents about those dangers could have saved his daughter's life.

“If we had known that Percocet was going around Plano Senior High School, we would have sat down with Sienna and talk to her about it,” he said. “We need a big time awareness campaign that goes out there for parents and children because the message isn’t getting through.”

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, announced Monday that he will soon introduce legislation aimed at combating the nation’s worsening fentanyl crisis, including providing additional support to programs that raise awareness about the drug's dangers.

The Substance Use Disorder Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Act of 2023, which Cornyn said he would introduce in a few weeks, would reauthorize programs aimed at reducing demand for drugs, provide assistance to law enforcement agencies and service providers, and direct funding to grant programs that support people recovering from substance use disorders.

The legislation would “help improve the Drug-Free Communities prevention program," Cornyn said. "It would help law enforcement dismantle the trafficking organizations that sell these drugs and provide more support for those who are battling substance use disorders."

He also called on President Joe Biden and the federal government to do more to combat the trafficking of drugs across the southern border into the U.S.

“We know that this crisis is hitting very close to home here in North Texas,” where several children have died and others have “escaped the fatal consequences," he said.

Cornyn talked about the measure at a roundtable discussion at a high school in Carrollton, where nearly a dozen teenagers in one school district have overdosed on fentanyl this school year. The fallout has devastated and angered the community, including parents who have criticized the school district for not intervening sooner to stop drug use on school grounds.

He was joined by students, representatives from local law enforcement and two local school districts, and parents, like Lilia Astudillo, who have lost children to the fentanyl crisis.

"I never imagined something like this could happen to my family," said Astudillo, whose 14-year-old son, Jose Alberto Perez, died of a fentanyl overdose. "My son was more than a statistic, he wasn’t just a number among the thousands that have died from this drug. He was a precious soul, he was a human being full of life and dreams."

More than 1,600 Texans died from a fentanyl-related overdose in 2021, up 89% from 2020, Cornyn’s office said.

The number of fentanyl-related deaths among young people also has climbed. Median monthly overdose deaths involving fentanyl for people ages 10 to 19 increased 182% from July to December 2019 compared to the same period in 2021, according to a December report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than 2,200 teens fatally overdosed in the two and a half year period from July 2019 to December 2021, with fentanyl involved in 84% of the deaths, the report found.

At R.L. Turner High School in Carrollton, where multiple students have experienced fentanyl poisoning, students have been taught how to recognize the signs of an overdose.

Saniyah Rodriguez, a sophomore, said she had to put those lessons into practice five weeks ago when she knew that the "gurgling" sound she heard coming from a school bathroom was a student overdosing.

“It was frightening, but I knew to get help,” Rodriguez said. The experience, however, has left her shaken.

“What I experienced did traumatize me,” she said.