RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Preliminary data from the Virginia Department of Health shows more than 1,900 Virginians died from fentanyl overdoses in 2023. That’s why Governor Glenn Youngkin and First Lady Suzanne Youngkin held an event at City Stadium in Richmond on May 7, which is National Fentanyl Awareness Day.
Tom Mazich of Fairfax County joined the Youngkins for the event. Mazich’s 21-year-old son, Greyson, died three years ago after an accidental fentanyl overdose during his senior year of college.
“Three Fairfax County police officers showed up at our door in Great Falls dutifully to deliver the news that our son had passed” Mazich said.
Mazich says his son took a pill after experiencing back pain.
“He took a little blue pill that he had gotten from somebody he knew, thinking it was Percocet,” said Mazich. “He wasn’t partying, he wasn’t out with friends. He was actually at home at his apartment on campus with his two roommates. He took this pill and went to bed, he never woke up again.”
Meanwhile, Youngkin is urging athletic coaches to talk to their players about the dangers of fentanyl.
“Take their team and sit down with them and say, ‘Here is the reality, if you take something that isn’t prescribed by your doctor and picked up by a pharmacy and acknowledged by your parents, you are taking a tremendous risk of dying,’” said Youngkin.
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