Mothers of children who died via fentanyl poisoning champion NC’s new death-by-distribution law and continue to advocate for awareness

Featured photo: A billboard in Greensboro aims to raise awareness about the dangers of fentanyl, a deadly and potent drug being hidden in other recreational drugs. (Photo by Gale Melcher)

On a billboard off of Battleground Avenue in Greensboro, 20 smiling faces flash grins through the screen — smiles that will forever be contained in pictures and their families’ memories. All 20 people pictured on the billboard passed away after taking drugs they didn’t know were laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid drug that is being mass-produced and added to other illicit drugs to increase their potency. This often results in death — in North Carolina, 183 deaths occurred this March.

Next to the faces a message reads: “Hidden in so-called ‘recreational’ drugs, fentanyl steals families.”

On July 6 around noon, families gathered around Elizabeth’s Pizza facing the billboard to remember their loved ones and raise awareness about the dangers of illicit drugs. 

Deborah Peeden lost her granddaughter Ashley in October 2021 and shared her story with TCB last year.

In 2023, the Drug Enforcement Administration seized more than 80 million fentanyl-laced fake pills. This year, that number has reached more than 28.1 million and is still climbing. Additionally, seven out of 10 pills seized by the DEA contain lethal doses of fentanyl.

In an interview, Peeden said that she felt it was important to put the billboard up to highlight the memory of locals lost to fentanyl. For the past two years, Peeden has paid for a billboard in memory of Ashley. Peeden is now an ambassador for Facing Fentanyl, a campaign that provides prevention education and opioid-reversal kits to schools.

“Some days I’m good, and other days it just hits out of the blue,” Peeden said. “She’s on my mind 24/7 every single minute of every single day. She’s got her birthday coming up on August 1.” 

Peeden explained that when dates like birthdays come around, she “can feel that tsunami wave coming.”

“You feel like you’re drowning,” she said.

On July 6, TCB spoke with other mothers who have lost their children to fentanyl poisoning;  TCB is not publishing their names as their childrens’ cases are still active. Many of the families have connected via support groups and bonded over their losses. One mother tugged at the layers of colorful bracelets on her wrist before finding the name of Thomas Lamb etched into a plastic bracelet. Thomas died from fentanyl poisoning in September 2022. She’s friends with Thomas’s mother, Amy Lamb, who still celebrates his birthday every year with his friends and family. 

A small child bobbed through the crowd, stopping to point at their loved one’s face on the billboard and shout out their name. Some of the families are hopeful that they will be able to see some form of justice through North Carolina’s death-by-distribution law, passed in 2019 and recently updated on Dec. 1. 

The older version of the law stated that a person is guilty of death by distribution if all of the following requirements are met: the person unlawfully sold at least one controlled substance such as an opioid, cocaine or methamphetamine, that the substance they sold caused the death of the user and that the person who sold the drug did not act with malice. The crime was a Class C felony, which usually results in a 5-12 year prison sentence with a maximum sentence of 19 years. 

The updated version of the law removes the malice requirement or proof that the drug was sold. Under the new law, perpetrators can be charged with a Class C felony if they simply distribute a drug such as methamphetamine, fentanyl or cocaine that leads to a victim’s death. If the perpetrator did act with malice, they could be charged with a Class B2 felony.

In an email to TCB, the Greensboro Police Department’s Public Information Coordinator Patrick DeSota explained that in response to the updated law, the police department “instituted internal procedural changes in [their] response to suspected overdose deaths” in an effort to further these types of investigations. DeSota added that they have implemented screening questions specific to suspected overdose investigations.

Peeden was a vocal critic of GPD and the way they handled Ashley’s case, and said she’s “glad” the law has been updated. 

“I’m hoping that that will make a big difference,” Peeden said. “With Ashley’s case, they just never did anything with hers. Nothing more than a police report.”

Still, communications specialist for Guilford County Sheriff’s Office Bria Evans wrote that the change in law “does not directly affect [their] investigative procedures” but that it does “make it easier for [them] to criminally charge individuals” because they no longer have to “prove the actual ‘sell’ of the substance.” 

Another anonymous mother TCB spoke to said that she hopes the updated law will send “shockwaves” to drug dealers, reverberating the message that selling drugs could have serious consequences.

One silver lining is that NC deaths from fentanyl appear to be declining according to data collected by the state Department of Health and Human Services. Since December, which totaled 264 deaths, monthly deaths have dropped to 220 in January, 207 in February and 183 in March. And awareness of the drug is key, Peeden explained.

“It can happen to anybody’s child, and if you don’t think it can happen to you, think again,” Peeden said.

And while Peeden and the other families have been advocating for their loved ones for years, the pain “doesn’t get easier,” she said.

“I’ve had someone tell me ‘Debbie, you’ve done enough, just stop, you’ve done enough, you need to quit.’ I’m like no, I can’t quit,” Peeden said. “We’ve got too many kids out there who don’t know, we have too many parents out there that don’t know, and we want to try to save the lives of other kids so that these parents go through the nightmare that we’re going through.”

• Share this article: