Mother fighting back against fentanyl 1 year after son's tragic overdose death

One year after her son's fentanyl overdose, a Kamloops mother is fighting back against the drug that took her son life, so other mothers don't have to suffer the way she did.

"Did I plan to go public with my son's struggle? Absolutely not," she said. "Do I want to save other people's children? Absolutely."

Tully ran a booth in the summer of 2016 at the Kamloops Farmer's Market spreading awareness about drug overdose and asking for signatures for two petitions: one asking the government to regulate and register pill presses, another to increase the number of safe consumption sites.

She also helped organize the local vigil for International Overdose Awareness Day.

"There is a lot of judgment when your child dies from a drug overdose," Tully said. For that reason, she's joined several support groups in Kamloops and frequently acts as a sounding board for parents who have suffered similar losses.

"I think I've grown more compassionate to people," she added.

A day she'll never forget

Tully says 22-year-old Ryan Pinneo's death, like so many others, was an accident on a day that started out like any other.

She was off from work and out running errands and assumed her son was sleeping, since he had been working night shifts.

"I didn't even think to check on him," she said.

When no one had heard or seen Ryan, she knocked on his door. There was no answer.

She opened the door to find him slumped in his computer chair.

Pinneo had previously struggled with prescription medications, but to Tully's knowledge, he was clean.

"I thought we were in a good place. He's clean. He's talking about his future, looking for his next goal and plan and I thought we were really in a good place."

"We didn't know it was fentanyl, until we got the toxicology," she remembered.

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• Fentanyl crisis: Easier access to Suboxone urgently needed, experts say

Provincial crisis

Since Pinneo's death, fentanyl has become much more prevalent in Kamloops and the rest of the province. Illicit drugs claimed 914 lives in B.C. in 2016, up from 510 in 2015.

Tully believes the B.C. government needs to do more.

"Our provincial government shouldn't be waiting for our federal government to step in," she said.

When she writes to local politicians asking for help, Tully said she gets "the standard stock letter reply."

In the meantime, Tully will forge on with her fight against fentanyl.

Tully says parents don't think police are doing enough to fight the fentanyl crisis.

"Whether that's true or not, we don't know, because, of course, they can't just publicly say 'we're investigating so-and-so' and I understand that," Tully said.

"Just a return phone call would be great."

While the drug has run rampant across the province, some measures have been put in place to help curb the chaos.

Naloxone wasn't readily available in January 2016, but now training and kits are accessible, not only to emergency responders, but also to the public.

"I've said right from the start that I think awareness and education is the key," said Tully.

With files from Daybreak Kamloops. 

To hear the audio, click the left-hand link: One-year anniversary of Ryan Pinneo's fenantyl overdose death