VIRGINIA BEACH, Va— Earlier this week Governor Glenn Youngkin and his administration turned their focus on the dangerous drug that's taking the lives of many here in Hampton Roads—fentanyl.
News 3's Kelsey Jones talked to Shannon Doyle, a Virginia Beach mom who knows all too well the dangers of the drug.
The pain is still fresh for her—she lost her daughter Makayla Cox last year to fentanyl poisoning.
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"To lose a child at any age and the parent outlives...it is unnatural," said Doyle said.
Makayla just turned 16 years old two weeks before she died.
Not too long ago our News 3 reporter Kelsey Jones sat down and spoke with Doyle about her daughter.
"Had she survived it, she would be standing here with me fighting it. Nowhere in my mind did I know that there was a possibility that it was going to be laced with something that was going to immediately stop her from breathing," said Doyle.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order Tuesday that directs state agencies to take 10 steps to support the fight against the Fentanyl crisis.
It includes a plan to use wastewater surveillance to keep tabs on the use of the drug.
Youngkin's administration invited Doyle, along with other mothers, to Richmond to weigh in on the drug crisis and share their stories.
"To invite not just me but so many others and ask us our opinions on what we can change to bring prevention, to bring awareness, to educate, laws to be changed...nobody has really asked us," said Doyle.
The order also urges state public safety officials and state police to develop a "strategic plan for law enforcement agencies" for tackling the problem in parts of the state dealing with high numbers of overdose deaths.
Change which Doyle and many others have been advocating.
"He's definitely wanting the change and so hopefully everybody that needs to do what they need to do to get the change done will do," said Doyle.
Fentanyl overdose deaths in Virginia have grown more than 20-fold since 2013 according to Youngkin's executive order. It also says, since 2020, more Virginians have died from drug overdoses than car crashes and gun-related deaths combined.
