As overdose deaths decrease and drug confiscations increase, grieving Louisville mother demands more

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Fentanyl is one of the most common drugs involved in overdose and poisoning deaths, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said it confiscated of it in 2022 to kill every American.

The DEA said people are taking what they believe are prescriptions drugs, but the counterfeit pills actually contain fentanyl. One small laced pill can kill, which is something Angela Parkerson is painfully aware of.

Her son, Nick Ruther, died after splitting what he believed was a Percocet with someone he considered a friend.

"Fentanyl changed everything," Parkerson said. "It's the worst thing that could ever happen to a parent."

Parkerson refuses to call her son's cause of death an overdose, saying that implies he took to much, "as if there's a safe dose of illicit fentanyl."

The Louisville division of the US DEA, which serves Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia, said it confiscated 184,000 pills and 316 pounds of fentanyl powder in 2022 alone. The number of people who died from opioid overdoses in Kentucky decreased in the past year, but Parkerson said this isn't a win because the state's nonfatal opioid overdose rate is still higher than the national average.

"I can't tell you how many children under the age of 18 that I know that are dead because of fentanyl," she said. "It's a crisis."

Kevin McWilliams, a spokesman Louisville division, said he doesn’t believe the overdose fatality numbers are down because there are fewer illegal drugs in Kentucky.

"Overdose and poisoning deaths are declining in Kentucky largely due to the wide availability of Narcan," he said.

McWilliams said 2 milligrams of fentanyl are considered a lethal dose, the equivalent of 10-15 grains of table salt. For every 10 counterfeit pills, he said, six contain enough fentanyl to kill a person.

"It is not an accident and it is not an overdose," Parkerson said. "It is murder."

While bringing awareness to the opioid epidemic won't save Parkerson's son, she hopes it will save other parents from sharing her pain.

"We have to approach it differently in order to make any changes or kids are going to keep dying," she said.