VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — Volusia County Schools are urging parents to talk with students about the danger of drugs.
What You Need To Know
- Father Pete Crotty shares the heartbreak of losing two of his children from taking a fentanyl-laced substance
- RELATED: Fentanyl found at high school in Volusia County
Last Friday, an investigation began after a small bag of fentanyl was discovered on the campus of Atlantic High School in Port Orange.
VCS released a statement saying the schools have a no-tolerance policy for drugs on school campuses.
“This is a shocking finding as we do not anticipate our students to have drugs on campus,” the statement said.
With the dangerous substance appearing in the school, drug prevention advocates like Pete Crotty are fighting to bring awareness to just how dangerous fentanyl is.
Not a day goes by where he’s not thinking about the devastating impact the drug can have on a family.
“I got a call. That call no parent wants to get,” Crotty said.
Fentanyl has caused tragedy to strike his family twice.
In 2020, two of his children passed away from overdosing on a fentanyl-laced substance.
“My son was Daniel Ryan Crotty, and my daughter was Jessica Nicole Crotty,” he said.
His son died at 35 in December of 2020 and his daughter died in May of 2020 at the age of 28. He said that both of his children struggled with addiction when they were younger.
The heartache he has felt from losing his children to an overdose is something he doesn’t want anyone else to handle.
It’s why over the past few years, he’s been using his voice to spread awareness of the harm fentanyl can have.
That includes pushing for more drug prevention programs in Florida schools.
“They might be buying what they think is a Xanax, and it’s laced with fentanyl. That’s what’s killing our youth and even our adults,” Crotty said.
According to the VCS website, the school system partners with resources like Too Good for Drugs, a prevention program for drug-free living taught to students in kindergarten through 5th grade.
For parents like Crotty, he believes even more work must be done to prevent students from getting caught up with the drug.
He’s hoping his story and others who have dealt with similar circumstances can serve as a message on why prevention must be at the forefront of everyone’s mind.
“There’s a lot of parents whose voices can’t be heard, and they need to heard,” he said.