{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2024/9/issues/health-care/video-blackburn-discusses-fentanyl-epidemic-with-tennessee-mom-who-lost-her-17-year-old-son", "VIDEO: Blackburn Discusses Fentanyl Epidemic with Tennessee Mom Who Lost Her 17-Year-Old Son", "2024-09-23", "2024", "2024-09", "Republican", "Senate", "TN", "Marsha Blackburn", "B001243", "www.blackburn.senate.gov", "blackburn", "https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/news/cc8c80c1-d564-4bbb-93a4-f1d772346ae0", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 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.\n\nClick here to download this video of Senator Blackburn\u2019s conversation about the fentanyl epidemic with Kathy.\n\n\u201cMost 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\u2019s 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.\u201d \u2013 Senator Blackburn\n\n\u201cVaughn-Thomas\u2026 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 \u2013 life was going really well for him\u2026 He was supposed to play golf with his dad the next day, and when Vaughn-Thomas didn\u2019t wake up to his alarm, that\u2019s when we found him. He took what he thought was a Xanax \u2013 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.\u201d \u2013 Kathy\n\nBACKGROUND:\n\nFentanyl poisoning is the leading cause of death for Americans age 18-45.\n\nAccording to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), CBP\u2019s fentanyl seizures increased more than 860% from fiscal years 2019 to 2023, and they nearly doubled from fiscal years 2022 to 2023.\n\nJust last month, CBP officers in Arizona seized roughly 4 million blue fentanyl pills \u2013 weighing more than 1,000 pounds and the largest singular fentanyl seizure in CBP history.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:43:57Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2024/9/issues/health-care/video-blackburn-discusses-fentanyl-epidemic-with-tennessee-mom-who-lost-her-17-year-old-son"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.0326608791947365, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}