REHOBOTH, MASS. (WHDH) - A new billboard in Massachusetts is aiming to raise awareness about the dangers of fentanyl — the powerful drug that has killed thousands of people in recent years.
The billboard overlooks Route 6 in Rehoboth, showing the faces of fentanyl victims like Sean Poole and the dangers of the drug.
“We were just inseparable,” Poole’s sister, Mellissa Poole-Dolan, told 7NEWS.
Sean died when he took heroin laced with fentanyl.
“He had been sober for a while,” Poole-Dolan said. “That night, he wanted to feel good because he had got a raise and someone said ‘Oh, I can get you something,’ and it was fentanyl,” Melissa said.
Now, Poole-Dolan is hoping to raise awareness.
“We’re losing over 300 people a day to fentanyl and I always say, ‘That’s like an airline going down every day.’”
Poole-Dolan is not alone in her efforts.
She is working with Paula Young, who lost her 33-year-old son, Andrew Santos, last March after his marijuana was laced with fentanyl.
“My son’s legacy is not going to be how he passed away,” Young said. “It’s how many lives he’s about to save.”
Together, Poole-Dolan and Young said their hope is to break the stigma around fentanyl deaths.
“Even on his death certificate, it says ‘overdose’ — but he didn’t overdose, he was poisoned,” Poole-Dolan said. “These people don’t know they’re buying fentanyl.”
As they work to strengthen fentanyl laws across the country, Poole-Dolan and Young said they’re hoping the billboards in Massachusetts will educate people, especially parents, about the drug.
Their mission, Poole-Dolan said, involves “Making parents aware that this is out there and you need to talk to your kids now.”
Poole-Dolan and Young said they plan to put more billboards up across Massachusetts in the future. Learn more about their efforts here.
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