“You’re all just like him.” Multi-tier presentation warns students of dangers, penalties of fentanyl

As a clinical psychologist, Sandy Snodgrass had seen her and heard her share of tragic stories. Then in 2021 she experienced her own tragedy as her only child Bruce, a young man with a love of the outdoors and just starting his life, was killed due to fentanyl poisoning.

Since then, she has turned her grief into a mission to increase awareness and advocating for legislative action, as well as the importance of Naloxone Kit availability and training. She has also been hard at work spearheading a public education and awareness campaign focused on the dangers of drugs that could be contaminated with fentanyl and additional preventative measures relating to drug use and addiction, taking it to schools and communities throughout Alaska.

She, along with Michael J. Heyman, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Alaska, and an agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) spoke to students at the Mat-Su Career and Technical High School in Wasilla on April 16.

“He was only 22 years old and my only child,” she said, telling the students that her son was a true Alaskan boy and that as he went out for a bike ride, she told him that she loved him, not knowing that those would be her last words to him.

“He died within shouting distance of help in a wooded area 30 feet from a Wells Fargo drive-through and McDonald’s drive-through on Debarr Road in Anchorage. The devastation of his fentanyl poisoning death has impacted his family, friends and community in ways that I cannot fully describe here today,” Snodgrass told the students of her son.

“Every time I do these school presentations, all I see is him in all of your faces, you’re all just like him” she told the students while trying to reiterate a message of safety. Snodgrass said that someone was with her son but did not perform CPR, did not get help while being so close to a fast food restaurant, nor did anyone with him call 911. “If you’re ever in the situation like that, please, please, please call 911.”

DEA Agent Fitts reiterated her message of safety, say that unlike other law enforcement agencies, the DEA’s singular mission is to combat drugs such as fentanyl labs in the United States and Mexico, among other locations.

While some of the education about fentanyl has been reported over the past several years, some students were still surprised to learn how lethal fentanyl is, how accessible it is as it is inexpensive and can be added to other illicit substances, and that is highly addictive.

“On the street, fentanyl is generally coming in pill form. We’re seeing it in fake pills that look exactly like the pills you could get from the pharmacies here.” When the students were asked to pick from a photograph which pills they thought were fake, more than half the students gathered picked the fake ones versus the real ones.

Heyman, who has been a prosecutor for over ten years, was recently named a U.S. Attorney for the District of Alaska, working for the Department of Justice, said that while there was a message of prevention from Snodgrass, and investigation and criminality of fentanyl and drug trafficking from the DEA, his was a message of the prosecution and likely outcomes.

“Once we have a death, once we have the drug distribution network, I’m the guy that’s going to be prosecuting these cases in federal court.”

He told the students that the law in Alaska is if someone is involved with distributing fentanyl that results in death, the resulting penalty could be a death sentence on the federal level, as the state of Alaska does not have the death penalty.

“If it violates a federal law, it comes with federal penalties,” Heyman told the students.

He worries himself not only as a prosecutor, but also with having children of his own, two of which are high school aged.

“I think community engagement is critical. This is a multi-pronged approach to attacking the fentanyl crisis. I think it’s important that the students hear the full range of what we’re doing to battle fentanyl here in the state.”

Snodgrass said that she has worked with the DEA in the past, talking at family summits around Alaska as well as on the national level, and partners with them at events such as this to help bring an additional level of attention to the dangers fentanyl can present.

“Something I think about hearing it from a parent, from the DEA and then a US attorney, where we present all of this, we’re more likely to get their attention.” Snodgrass says she is willing to tell her story, with or without the addition of the DEA and US Attorney anywhere at any time to get the word out. “If we can prevent one kid from dying, it’s enough.”

“With education comes prevention,” said CTHS Principal Jason Ross, who credited Assistant Principal Jolene McDowell for coordinating the event. He said that the information shared was relevant, the students were engaged, and that he was grateful for the opportunity to host the speakers.

To learn more about the AK Fentanyl Response Project, please visit www.akfentanylresponse.com