TULSA, Okla. — August 21 is Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day. More than 100,000 Americans died in 2022 due to fentanyl. A Tulsa mom is one of hundreds who will head to Washington, D.C. next month to urge legislators that more needs to be done about the crisis plaguing our nation.
“He was kind, sweet, rambunctious, ornery,” said Whitney Ruggles, of her son, Hunter Hamilton. “We will miss him a lot.”
Whitney said Hunter spent most of his free time at the skate park in Jenks. “All day long, whether it was hot or cold, it didn’t matter, he was here,” she said. 2News met her at the park to share her story.
One night, 15-year-old Hunter was experimenting with drugs and didn’t survive it. His friend, also participating, was OK.
“With fentanyl, there’s like a ‘chocolate chip cookie effect,’” she explained. “It could all be in one half of it and not be in the other half.”
That is one thing she has learned about the growing fentanyl crisis after joining a group called Families Supporting Families. Hunter died in December of 2021, but only recently could Whitney really talk about it.
“I was ashamed at first,” she admitted. “But you can’t be, because it’s everywhere, it’s in everything and I didn’t want anyone else to feel like this.”
That’s the message she’s hoping to send as she begins her journey with the support group spreading awareness through school talks. Any drug experimentation is dangerous, however, one fentanyl exposure can end a life. Fentanyl can be found in black market products—anything from vapes to pills that are marked like other pill brands.
“They press them to make them look like a prescription drug and could be all fentanyl,” she said.
The medical examiner told Whitney that Hunter had enough fentanyl in him to kill seven people.
Thanks to friends who raised money to send Whitney to Washington, D.C., she can rally with other families so that Hunter did not die in vain.
Families Supporting Families is also hosting a Fentanyl Awareness Rally at the Tulsa County Courthouse on August 31 at 9 a.m.
District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler is expected to speak. Free Narcan will be available. Narcan is the nasal spray that can help reverse the effects of an overdose.
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