AK mom who lost son to fentanyl among 60 parents at special House meeting in D.C.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Lawmakers in a special House committee are focused on countering the Chinese government allegedly fueling the fentanyl crises in the U.S.

A report released Tuesday accuses the Chinese government of subsidizing the manufacturing of materials used to make drugs outside the country.

Sandy Snodgrass, who lost her son to fentanyl poisoning and has been fighting Alaska’s opioid crisis, was among about 60 parents in similar fights across the U.S. who listened Tuesday in Washington D.C. as the report was unveiled.

The Associated Press reports the Chinese government has not directly addressed the allegations but has pointed to steps the nation has taken to curb production.

Fentanyl kills more than 200 Americans daily and has caused a drop in American life expectancy as the leading cause of death for those ages 18 to 45, the report found.

“It’s unbelievably devastating to try and digest those numbers but it also makes us very, very angry and demand a response,” Snodgrass said.

The report also claims that the geographical source of the fentanyl crisis has been the People’s Republic of China (PRC) under the Chinese Communist Party. It further states companies in China have been producing nearly all of the illicit fentanyl precursors used within the global trade. The report eventually came to the determination that the PRC is not only contributing to America’s fentanyl crisis but to nations’ troubles around the world as well.

Snodgrass has been fighting against the fentanyl crisis in Alaska after her 22-year-old son Bruce died in October of 2021 taking a drug she doesn’t think he knew was fentanyl. She worked alongside Alaska’s congressional delegation in June of 2022 to introduce federal legislation named after her late son, Bruce Snodgrass.

In Alaska, Snodgrass maintains the number of fentanyl deaths has reached an all-time high.

“This year, in 2023, the numbers in Alaska reach another peak level of deaths in the state,” Snodgrass said. “It equates to almost an Alaskan every day dying to elicit drug poisoning in the state. That’s up almost 40%.”

The special committee’s findings shocked Snodgrass and other parents on the trip, she said.

“All of us, all of the parent advocates do this for our children and our children’s memory, to stay close to our children and to be heard that our children were poisoned,” Snograss said. “There’s no excuse for other people’s children to be poisoned now that we know and it’s been shown by the House of Representatives.”

Snodgrass said fentanyl pills are getting more potent. United States Drug Enforcement Administration laboratory testing in 2023 showed sseven out of 10 pills tested had a potentially deadly dose of fentanyl in it.

Snodgrass said she is doing everything she can through her AK Fentanyl Response Project to prevent people from taking illicit drugs.

She said people need to work together in the effort and applauded law enforcement’s tools to keep drugs off the street as well as various efforts to help users.

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