275 pairs of shoes sat in several neat rows on Cleveland’s Public Square Friday afternoon. The collection of sandals, boots, loafers and sneakers represent the number of people killed by drug overdoses in the U.S. on an average day.
“That’s a lot of phone calls people are getting, a lot of knocks on the door in the middle of the night, and that’s leaving a lot of family members behind and friends behind,” said Melinda Gamez.“He was a very outgoing, very high-spirited, fun person, had a lot of friends,” Gamez said.“I don’t think of myself as naive. I work with teenagers. I have four kids of my own. I know what goes on and what teenagers like to do. And I had no idea that fentanyl was as prevalent as it is,” Gamez explained.
Her son, Michael Biello, died in March 2020 because a drug he took was unknowingly made with Carfentanil. The synthetic opioid is 100 times more potent than fentanyl, which itself is 50 times stronger than heroin. “We’re proposing a weapon of mass destruction designation so that we can interdict the supply before it gets here, seize the money in the accounts of the perpetrators and end the blight that’s being done to our country,” said Jim Rauh, the founder of Families Against Fentanyl.
During Friday’s rally, U.S. Representative Tim Ryan announced plans to call on Congress to classify fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, saying details would come out next week. While families look for national policy change, many are also calling for stricter state and local penalties for the people creating and dealing the contaminated drugs.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
At Least 5 Killed in Tulsa Mass ShootingWednesday's Tulsa, Oklahoma shooting is the 20th U.S. mass shooting since the May 24 massacre of 21 students and staff at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Read more »
At Least 4 Killed in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mass Shooting, 101 Years After Tulsa Race MassacreAt Least 3 Dead in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mass Shooting, 101 Years After Tulsa Race Massacre
Read more »
New York jumps to pass major gun restrictions after mass shootingsNew laws sought by Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York’s Legislature would further tighten and strengthen the state’s gun ownership restrictions, including raising the age to 21 for the purchase of semi-automatic rifles like those used in recent shootings
Read more »
At Least 4 Killed in Tulsa Mass ShootingWednesday's Tulsa, Oklahoma shooting is the 20th U.S. mass shooting since the May 24 massacre of 21 students and staff at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Read more »
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 has reportedly entered mass productionWith an anticipated announcement expected in August, June marks the beginning of the mass production of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4
Read more »