BirdieLight - Fentanyl Awareness Nonprofit For Youth
Dr. Beth Weinstock talked to Lakewood High School students about the dangers of unintended fentanyl ingestion.
BirdieLight is an organization founded by Dr. Beth Weinstock, whose son Eli died of an unintentional fentanyl overdose in March of 2021. Weinstock came to speak to the students at Lakewood High School on April 30th, and you can watch the presentation at this link. It is well worth watching her talk and hearing about the public health crisis that is unintentional fentanyl overdoses. Her visit was intended to save lives. Weinstock said she “came to save lives today, and she would enlist you, the students of LHS, in that effort because she couldn’t do it alone.”
Eli was a sophomore at American University in Washington D.C., and Weinstock described him as kind-hearted, thriving, with a good GPA. Their family had just seen him ten days before on a trip to Florida, and he was not struggling with addiction or substance abuse. They think he possibly ingested a pill that he thought was something else, but it was pure fentanyl. The coroner told them that the only other substance found in his system was a plant-based legal supplement that had calming qualities.
As Weinstock has learned more about the counterfeit pills being peddled to look like authentic prescription drugs, she believes that Eli took the most commonly trafficked illegal counterfeit pill, Oxycodone. These drug dealers use pill presses to manufacture and dye these pills to look like actual prescription pills. You can see photos and examples of this in her presentation.
I am sure many of you have heard the story of the two Northeast Ohio freshmen girls at OSU who, while studying for finals in the spring of 2023, thought they were taking Adderall to help them stay up and study all night. They ingested Fetynal and died. As I see my senior, and many of the kids I have watched him grow up with, head off to college in the fall, I want to help bring this educational awareness to my community.
Thank you, Dr. Weinstock, for coming to Lakewood to spread your message. I am very grateful that my children attend a school district willing to have this conversation. This is an everyone problem; this is an American problem, and to help de-stigmatize this subject, write to the surgeon general asking for a fentanyl flyer asking why we aren’t getting information about how many people are dying from this yearly as we did during the AIDS epidemic, a few decades ago.
Office of the Surgeon General:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Ave SW
Humphrey Bldg. Suite 701H
Washington, DC 20201
E-mail: surgeongeneral@hhs.gov
Phone: 202-401-7529
Thank you to our PTA president, Adrienne Simmons, for helping me lead the effort to bring this critical message to our community and our children’s school. Thank you to Joy Morgan, the principal at Lakewood High School, and Kathleen Corrigan, our district nurse, for meeting with Adrienne and me and bringing this to our superintendent to get the green light to bring this to Lakewood City Schools.
Birdie Light saves lives by educating young people about the danger of unintentional fentanyl ingestion and by empowering them with tools to detect fentanyl before they ingest it.
This LHS-PTA-sponsored event was made possible by donations from our community. Thank you if you donated to help us bring this critical message to our students and their families.
Project Dawn
On Monday evening, the night before Dr. W came to speak to us, parents and community members were invited to hear about Project Dawn. Project Dawn (Deaths Avoided With Naloxone) is a network of opioid overdose education and naloxone distribution programs coordinated by the Ohio Department of Health. Naloxone (commonly known as Narcan®) is a medication that can reverse an overdose caused by an opioid drug.
Patricia Barley is a long-time resident of Lakewood. Her three boys attend Lakewood City Schools: a recent LHS graduate headed to OSU this fall, an eighth grader at HMS, and a sixth grader at GMS. She has volunteered at all the schools her children have attended and other organizations in Lakewood. She aims to continue to help maintain a safe, healthy, and stable community for her family and neighbors.
Patricia Neligan Barley
Patricia Barley is a long-time resident of Lakewood. Her three boys attend Lakewood City Schools: a recent LHS graduate headed to OSU this fall, an eighth grader at HMS, and a sixth grader at GMS. She has volunteered at all the schools her children have attended and other organizations in Lakewood. She aims to continue to help maintain a safe, healthy, and stable community for her family and neighbors.