Contact: Pamela Boyd, 323-575-2345
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 2, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ -- Richard Rossi is an Oscar-considered filmmaker, but now he's making headlines for founding a group called 'Families Fighting Fentanyl' after the 2017 loss of his youngest brother Peter to an overdose of heroin and fentanyl.
"I call Pete my baby brother," Rossi said in a CBS interview. "I'm the oldest of five children. I gave him his bottle, took care of him. It feels like losing a brother and a son. He was a fantastic rock guitarist. People with addictions are often gifted, like my brother, and Prince, who died from fentanyl."
Fentanyl mixed with heroin led to thousands of overdose deaths from 2000 to 2017. "Fentanyl is an artificial substance manufactured to enslave. It's potent," Rossi said. "Drugs dealers are lacing drugs with it, its epidemic. Every day we're contacted by someone who lost a child, sibling, or parent to this. Its coming in over the Mexican border and also people order it online from China."
"Is deadly, even a few grains can kill you," Rossi said. "Police have to wear hazmat-like gear when they do raids."
"Its too late for my brother, but for families who have an addict who is still struggling, judge not, lest ye be judged," Rossi said. "The first step of Narcotics Anonymous is 'I am powerless over this.' Once this chemical hooks into their brain, their whole body craves it. It takes a miracle from God to get free."
"It's helping us to heal to share our stories, and to put our anger somewhere to support police to get the dealers," Rossi said. "These dealers are serial killers. People are dropping like flies."
The goals of Families Fighting Fentanyl are described on Facebook:
"We are supported in our fight by governors, senators, congressmen and national news networks. The purposes of our group are threefold:
- To hold drug dealers who deal fentanyl to be held accountable for homicide.
- To support help for those addicted to get clean.
- To support the friends and families of those who lose someone to this drug.
"This is personal for us, yet bigger than any one of us. As we ban together we can accomplish a victory beyond what we think, together we can do more than can we separately, and together we realize we are no longer alone in fighting the good fight."
To join FFF, send request to:
www.facebook.com/groups/familiesfightingfentanyl
