PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Illicit fentanyl is the deadliest drug in our area, according to the DEA's Washington Division which covers D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.
Although law enforcement reports they seized more pills than ever last year, people continue to die from the drug.
Hampton Roads families who have lost loved ones want their voices heard.
The MLW Movement: Virginia Fentanyl Awareness held its third annual fentanyl awareness walk on Saturday. Community members, car clubs and health workers joined.
There, News 3 spoke with families who have been impacted.
"It's like a big part of us is missing. I know it is for me," said Michael Lunceford of Portsmouth. "It's not fair."
He lost his 39-year-old son Justin last year.
"He was my baby boy. He was the nicest guy you ever met," said Lunceford. "He died of four grams— four granules of fentanyl mixed with cocaine. He was a big man 275 pounds, 6'2" and that was enough to kill him two times over. He obviously made some poor lifestyle decisions, but he did not deserve it. Nobody does."
Others have similar stories.
Sharon Roberts' son and Shyann Roberts' dad Shawn died in 2018.
"He took a Xanax, he thought, and the autopsy came back that it was fake and it was laced with fentanyl and heroin," explained Sharon Roberts of Chesapeake. "So we're dealing with it as a family and we just keep trying to spread awareness and love one another and I preach, preach, preach."
They're all left with memories.
"He was a very hard worker. He worked two jobs all his life building bridges and pushing snow. He left behind two beautiful daughters and me and at the time five older siblings, said Marg Perkins whose son Travis died two years ago.
"She was a funny person. She was a good person. She always made me smile," said Hunter Morris whose mother Kim died in 2019.
Others at the walk knew first-hand what addiction is like.
"I was bound on crack cocaine. I was an addict for like 12 years," explained Jamie Darden, of Suffolk, and of Hope Center Ministries. "I went to jail. My mug shot looks horrible. Somebody told me I was on the Busted app. I was shocked with how bad I looked when I saw my mug shot."
"When you were in the middle of [your addiction], did the prevalence of fentanyl scare you or worry you?" asked News 3 reporter Erika Craven.
"Yes, because I was exposed to people having overdoses. God let them live...I'm thankful I'm not on those drugs anymore," said Darden who is now sober. "Look at me now, I don't look like what I've been through."
"We want every other person, every other mother, every other family member to know there are groups out there. We are working together to try to make a difference. We're trying to get some laws changed," said Sharon Roberts.
That proposed change? Roberts and Perkins want to call some drug deaths poisonings instead of overdoses.
"Poisoning is when you intend to take something or smoke weed or a joint or something, and you're given something else such as illicit fentanyl. It's laced with it, and it murders you," explained Perkins. "I'm working hard with the state and people to try to get that changed on the death certificate because people use the word overdose even when a person doesn't know they're taking it. When it's on the death certificate they don't get a payout for life insurance and everybody deserves a proper burial regardless if you were an addict, a one-time thing, experimenting or what you were doing."
And everyone at the walk wanted to put a stop to the flow of illicit fentanyl.
"I don't know the answer, I don't have the answer. It's not going to bring any of our loved ones back, but it may save some," said Lunceford.
