WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) released the following video detailing her conversation with a Middle Tennessee mother named Kathy, who tragically lost her 17-year-old son, Vaughn-Thomas, after he unknowingly took a pill laced with fentanyl.

Click here to download this video of Senator Blackburn’s conversation about the fentanyl epidemic with Kathy.

“Most all of us know at least one person through friends, through family that has been affected, their lives have been torn apart by fentanyl. Over 100,000 Americans a year die [from drug overdoses], and it’s primarily fentanyl. The precursors come from China into Mexico, and then drug cartels bring it into the country. What we know is that across our great state, there are so many physicians and nurses and healthcare professionals who are on the front line of this every day. That is why we say thank you to our law enforcement and our healthcare community for the work that they are doing to fight back against fentanyl.” – Senator Blackburn

“Vaughn-Thomas… was our firstborn, our oldest of three sons. He was very strong in his faith, he loved his friends, he was a good student, he was athletic, he loved golf – life was going really well for him… He was supposed to play golf with his dad the next day, and when Vaughn-Thomas didn’t wake up to his alarm, that’s when we found him. He took what he thought was a Xanax – it was a counterfeit Xanax. Our borders are inviting tragedy into the lives of our children. One mistake should not have been a death sentence for Vaughn-Thomas.” – Kathy

• Fentanyl poisoning is the leading cause of death for Americans age 18-45. 

• According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), CBP’s fentanyl seizures increased more than 860% from fiscal years 2019 to 2023, and they nearly doubled from fiscal years 2022 to 2023.

• Just last month, CBP officers in Arizona seized roughly 4 million blue fentanyl pills – weighing more than 1,000 pounds and the largest singular fentanyl seizure in CBP history. 

• So far in 2024, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has seized enough fentanyl to kill 269 million Americans.