Some drugs are not what they seem, and taking them can result in disaster. Some South Carolina mothers have personal experience with the perils of bogus medications.
“My son took one pill and died on his knees, which is how I found him,” Luanne Dwyer told WCNC Charlotte’s Tradesha Woodard.
Melissa Anderko lost her twin sister and her 16-year-old son to fentanyl.
“The person who sold these pills is probably somewhere swimming in pools, and my son is in a box in my living room,” Anderko speculated.
Christina Settlemyer is another mother who lost her son to bogus medications. “I feel like I’m serving a lifetime sentence,” she told me.
The stories are similar, and they affect several families. That’s why some South Carolina families are advocating for stricter fentanyl drug legislation.
“We got to get some laws in place where if you sell drugs and take a life, you face consequences,” Settlemyer pointed out.
In North Carolina, death by distribution is already legal. Now, several South Carolina families are urging lawmakers to establish a similar law in their state.
A lot of them said they tell their terrible stories to save lives.
“People who are dealing with these drugs need to suffer and receive life sentences because they have taken a life,” Dwyer told reporters.
South Carolina filed a death-by-distribution measure, but it failed to pass this year. Families hope to have the community’s support as they continue to advocate for change.
