From Pills to Poison: The Opioid Crisis Through a Mother’s Eyes
By Beatrice Rakowsky
Kathleen Strain sits in front of her computer screen, her face illuminated by the blue light
as she recounts memories of her son, Thomas. A gentle smile crosses her face as she describes how he could “take apart a bike and build an amazing, faster bike using parts of old bikes,” and how he loved spending time with his kids. Her eyes crinkle at the edges when she recalls him racing around with his nieces and nephews “like a big kid.” But the smile fades when she remembers the day that Thomas joined her to hand out Narcan together at an Overdose Awareness Day event. Just one year later, on that same day, Thomas died of a fentanyl overdose, despite his ongoing struggle toward recovery.
His story began like thousands of others across America, with a prescription. Following multiple sports injuries and a motorcycle accident at 18, Thomas was prescribed oxycodone. Strain didn’t connect her son’s later struggle with these early prescriptions until years later, having an “aha moment” around 2012 when she realized “these pills were basically like heroin.” By then, it was too late. Thomas could no longer access the drugs he became addicted to through prescriptions, so he turned to street drugs that would eventually contain fatal amounts of fentanyl.
The tragedy that fell upon the Strain family mirrors the national crisis that continues to devastate communities across America, including college campuses and small towns like Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. From rural areas to major cities, no community has been spared from the deadly progression that begins with prescription opioids and often ends with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 times stronger than heroin and of which just two milligrams, the size of the tip of a pencil, can be fatal.
“The most important thing to know is that it’s really deadly and really addictive,” Strain emphasizes, her voice growing more urgent. “If you’re lucky enough to survive it, it’s highly addictive. So one time is never one time. I mean, unless you die, then it’s one time.”
The Scale of the Crisis
According to the DEA, despite a 25.5% decrease in its overdose deaths from the previous year, roughly 84,000 Americans still died from drug overdoses in 2023, with opioids and fentanyl accounting for 62% of these deaths. This translated to approximately 230 overdose deaths every day. “A jet per day,” as Richard Lucey, the Community Outreach Specialist and Prevention Program Manager from the DEA, put it.
The numbers are staggering. In 2024, the DEA seized more than 60 million fentanyl-laced fake pills and 8,000 pounds of fentanyl powder, equivalent to over 377 million lethal doses. That’s enough to kill every American. Laboratory testing revealed that five out of every ten seized fake pills contained at least two milligrams of fentanyl, which is the potentially fatal dose.
According to Joshua Romig, the Assistant Special Agent in Charge for the DEA Philadelphia Field Division, every town in America is affected by fentanyl, even small ones like Lewisburg. “There’s a pharmaceutical issue especially in small towns like Lewisburg and Williamsport [a local hub], that were old manufacturing towns that, maybe some of these people got addicted to pain pills, then the doctor’s would say ‘no more, clearly I’m now prescribing to an addict.’ Then they would have to turn to something else to feed that addiction, and that something else became these fentanyl pills.” He continues to explain that once drug users pop up, drug dealers pop up. It’s simple supply and demand.
For Strain, who now works with the Partnership to End Addiction and serves on
Committees overseeing pharmaceutical bankruptcy settlements, these aren’t just statistics, they represent real lives. “We have an entire generation of kids that have been impacted,” Strain explains, referring to what some call “Gen O,” children orphaned or otherwise affected by the opioid epidemic.
The College Connection
College campuses face unique challenges with the opioid crisis, particularly with
prescription drug misuse across three main categories, opioids, sedatives, and stimulants. According to Lucey, there’s a dangerous misperception that these substances can help improve students’ academic performance.
“Because of misuse of prescription stimulants, Adderall can be laced [with fentanyl],” warns Lucey. The same applies to counterfeit versions of Oxycontin, Xanax, and Percocet, all medications commonly misused by college students and increasingly being counterfeited with fentanyl.
What makes the current crisis particularly dangerous is how dealers are mixing fentanyl with other substances. Heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and counterfeit pills are all at risk of being laced, often without the users’ knowledge. The DEA emphasizes that the primary entry point for fentanyl is across the southern border, manufactured in Mexican labs before being distributed to various “source cities” across the United States.
Social media has become “the new super highway of drug trafficking,” according to Lucey. Platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, and even TikTok have become marketplaces where dealers promote their products and individuals seek out illicit pills. “Snapchat is not a trusted pharmacy,” he explains.
The DEA does work with campus police and local law enforcement to address drug distribution in college environments. As Romig explains, officers often go undercover to find information from students, and locate and focus on students who may be having problems. “Fentanyl use isn’t the same as underage drinking or marijuana,” he says, “It’s way worse.”
Romig compares ending the opioid crisis with the way you would destroy a company like Walmart. “If you wanted to destroy Walmart, you could arrest the CEO, and people probably wouldn’t even know. Walmart would keep on turning. You could light some of the stores on fire, and guess what, they would just buy new stores. You could go after their banking, or seize their assets. Or you could tell people to stop shopping at Walmart, tell them that it’s bad for them.” He goes on, “If you do any one of those things, you’re probably not going to have too much success. You won’t make a dent on Walmart. But if you did all of those things at the same time, and aggressively, and successfully, you would actually have a chance at shutting them down.”
Romig explains that this is how the Mexican cartels operate, explaining that they’re essentially companies. “The only difference is they’re selling poison, not camping equipment.” Overall, he explains that both education and community outreach, along with targeting and shutting down the higher level entities and the mid level sellers, are essential to solving this problem.
A Mother’s Journey
For Strain, understanding addiction didn’t come naturally. When Thomas’ father died from addiction-related causes when Thomas was just four years old, her reaction reflected the most common misconceptions. “I remember thinking, ‘Why would you do that? You have kids, you have a job,’” she recalls of her thoughts as a young mother in her twenties. “I was never really exposed to addictions, I didn’t really understand it.”
That perspective changed dramatically as she watched addiction unfold in her own family. “It wasn’t until I saw it playing out in front of my eyes with Thomas that I realized it wasn’t that easy to just stop,” she says.
Strain’s experience led her to become an advocate for better education and support systems, particularly for families with genetic predispositions to addiction. She believes that conversations about substance use should start early, in age-appropriate ways. “With my younger grandkids, when they were two, we started talking about safety and making good choices and building healthy relationships,” she explains. By the time children are nine, Strain says, they’re already “aware of a lot more than we know about,” which is what makes these early conversations so important.
The generational component of addiction is something that Strain emphasizes strongly. She notes that children born with neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome have a higher probability of developing substance use disorders later in life. She argues that this is why focusing on early intervention, providing support for affected families, and actually addressing underlying factors that contribute to substance use across generations is so important.
The Fentanyl Factor
What makes today’s opioid crisis particularly deadly is fentanyl’s potency and unpredictability. The DEA warns that it’s nearly impossible to distinguish between legitimate prescription pills and counterfeits. Their message is simple but urgent: “Don’t take a pill that’s not been prescribed to you and doesn’t come from a pharmacy.”
Even fentanyl test strips, while helpful, have limitations. “The issue is you can test one pill, but you have to destroy the pill to test it. If it comes back negative, that doesn’t mean that the rest of the batch won’t be positive,” explains Lucey.
Strain describes the deadly gamble that users take. “It’s playing Russian roulette. The more substances you use, the tolerance gets higher.” She explains how someone accustomed to one dealer’s product might overdose when forced to switch suppliers, as potency varies dramatically. “Studies show that within a certain amount of feet of where [a dealer’s] business was ended, there’s a higher rate of overdoses within the coming days and weeks because those people are now going to person B to get their stuff,” Strain explains. “They’re taking the same amount that they would have taken with person A, but it’s much more potent, so it kills them.”
Signs of Hope
Despite the grim statistics, there are reasons for optimism. Strain explains that nowadays there is highly increased awareness and many more open discussions about drug misuse, which she says is significant progress from thirty years ago when “people didn’t talk about it.”
“We have come a long way that we can actually have conversations about this, that there’s actually legislation and things happening, good or bad, that are at least addressing and bringing these topics to light,” she says.
Organizations like Partnership to End Addiction are working to provide resources to those struggling with substance use and their families. Initiatives like “Mobilized Recovery Campus Surge,” a bus tour visiting college campuses to provide information and support, represent a strong effort to bring important knowledge across the country and to the most vulnerable groups.
Law enforcement is also adapting its approach. The DEA collaborates with campus police and participates in events like National Prescription Drug Takeback Day, held the last Saturday in April and October. These events provide safe disposal sites for unused medications while educating communities about the dangers of prescription drug misuse.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Patient Advocacy Program is an initiative that operates in the Office of Drug Surveillance and Misuse Prevention (ODSMP). This program is working hard on increasing naloxone accessibility, by administering grants to emergency departments, harm reduction organizations, and community organizations throughout Pennsylvania. They also have the First Responder Addiction and Connection to Treatment Program (FR-ACT) which was established to ensure first responders, public safety professionals and their agencies have the tools necessary to respond to the overdose epidemic. According to a representative, “Training is offered at no-cost and is available in all 67 counties in Pennsylvania,” and “After completing FR-ACT training, two doses of naloxone are distributed to participants to reinforce education content discussed regarding naloxone utilization and administration.”
From nationwide awareness campaigns to local efforts expanding access to education and life-saving resources like naloxone, these collective actions show a commitment to addressing the opioid crisis and finding a path towards recovery and prevention.
The Path Forward
For Strain, improving communication across systems is crucial. From grandparents raising grandchildren to foster and adoption systems to schools. She advocates for better substance education in K-12 schools, stating that quality of education varies widely despite requirements in states like Pennsylvania. “I think it would be a lot cheaper to deal with those issues now than try to fix it after,” she claims, referring to prevention versus treatment and incarceration. “It just feels like it would be more beneficial to start sooner.”
For those currently struggling, Strain recommends reaching out to resources like Partnership to End Addiction’s helpline (text CONNECT to 55753) or visiting safelocator.org to find treatment options. The organization offers free support staffed by clinicians and a peer parent coaching program.
The DEA’s message to college students is simple and direct: “Don’t take a pull that’s not been prescribed for you by a licensed pharmacist.” For those who ignore that message, they warn, “it comes down to Russian roulette.”
As the interview concluded, Strain shared a recent story of how her young granddaughter tried to check her Tylenol when she was sick, to make sure it wasn’t laced with Fentanyl. This serves as a sobering reminder of how this crisis touches even the youngest members of affected families.
“We have all of these children impacted because their parents are incarcerated or in active addiction, they’re away at treatment, or maybe one or both of their parents have died,” Strain says, highlighting what she sees as a critical area needing attention. “We’re still not addressing this. The impact on children is swept under the rug.”
For Thomas’s mother, the work continues. She remains a proud advocate for better resources, education, and understanding of a disease that took her son but did not take her determination to save others.
Sources
Kathleen Strain
kstrain@toendaddiction.org | 212-841-5265
Richard Lucey
richard.lucey@dea.gov | 571-776-3457
Joshua Romig
Joshua.B.Romig@dea.gov | 571-362-5336
Erin Knight-Grimming
Erin.E.Knight-Grimming@dea.gov
Pennsylvania Patient Advocacy Program
RA-DH-ADVOCACY@pa.gov | 844.377.7367
From Pills to Poison: The Opioid Crisis Through a Mother’s Eyes
By Beatrice Rakowsky
Kathleen Strain sits in front of her computer screen, her face illuminated by the blue light
as she recounts memories of her son, Thomas. A gentle smile crosses her face as she describes how he could “take apart a bike and build an amazing, faster bike using parts of old bikes,” and how he loved spending time with his kids. Her eyes crinkle at the edges when she recalls him racing around with his nieces and nephews “like a big kid.” But the smile fades when she remembers the day that Thomas joined her to hand out Narcan together at an Overdose Awareness Day event. Just one year later, on that same day, Thomas died of a fentanyl overdose, despite his ongoing struggle toward recovery.
His story began like thousands of others across America, with a prescription. Following multiple sports injuries and a motorcycle accident at 18, Thomas was prescribed oxycodone. Strain didn’t connect her son’s later struggle with these early prescriptions until years later, having an “aha moment” around 2012 when she realized “these pills were basically like heroin.” By then, it was too late. Thomas could no longer access the drugs he became addicted to through prescriptions, so he turned to street drugs that would eventually contain fatal amounts of fentanyl.
The tragedy that fell upon the Strain family mirrors the national crisis that continues to devastate communities across America, including college campuses and small towns like Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. From rural areas to major cities, no community has been spared from the deadly progression that begins with prescription opioids and often ends with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 times stronger than heroin and of which just two milligrams, the size of the tip of a pencil, can be fatal.
“The most important thing to know is that it’s really deadly and really addictive,” Strain emphasizes, her voice growing more urgent. “If you’re lucky enough to survive it, it’s highly addictive. So one time is never one time. I mean, unless you die, then it’s one time.”
The Scale of the Crisis
According to the DEA, despite a 25.5% decrease in its overdose deaths from the previous year, roughly 84,000 Americans still died from drug overdoses in 2023, with opioids and fentanyl accounting for 62% of these deaths. This translated to approximately 230 overdose deaths every day. “A jet per day,” as Richard Lucey, the Community Outreach Specialist and Prevention Program Manager from the DEA, put it.
The numbers are staggering. In 2024, the DEA seized more than 60 million fentanyl-laced fake pills and 8,000 pounds of fentanyl powder, equivalent to over 377 million lethal doses. That’s enough to kill every American. Laboratory testing revealed that five out of every ten seized fake pills contained at least two milligrams of fentanyl, which is the potentially fatal dose.
According to Joshua Romig, the Assistant Special Agent in Charge for the DEA Philadelphia Field Division, every town in America is affected by fentanyl, even small ones like Lewisburg. “There’s a pharmaceutical issue especially in small towns like Lewisburg and Williamsport [a local hub], that were old manufacturing towns that, maybe some of these people got addicted to pain pills, then the doctor’s would say ‘no more, clearly I’m now prescribing to an addict.’ Then they would have to turn to something else to feed that addiction, and that something else became these fentanyl pills.” He continues to explain that once drug users pop up, drug dealers pop up. It’s simple supply and demand.
For Strain, who now works with the Partnership to End Addiction and serves on
Committees overseeing pharmaceutical bankruptcy settlements, these aren’t just statistics, they represent real lives. “We have an entire generation of kids that have been impacted,” Strain explains, referring to what some call “Gen O,” children orphaned or otherwise affected by the opioid epidemic.
The College Connection
College campuses face unique challenges with the opioid crisis, particularly with
prescription drug misuse across three main categories, opioids, sedatives, and stimulants. According to Lucey, there’s a dangerous misperception that these substances can help improve students’ academic performance.
“Because of misuse of prescription stimulants, Adderall can be laced [with fentanyl],” warns Lucey. The same applies to counterfeit versions of Oxycontin, Xanax, and Percocet, all medications commonly misused by college students and increasingly being counterfeited with fentanyl.
What makes the current crisis particularly dangerous is how dealers are mixing fentanyl with other substances. Heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and counterfeit pills are all at risk of being laced, often without the users’ knowledge. The DEA emphasizes that the primary entry point for fentanyl is across the southern border, manufactured in Mexican labs before being distributed to various “source cities” across the United States.
Social media has become “the new super highway of drug trafficking,” according to Lucey. Platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, and even TikTok have become marketplaces where dealers promote their products and individuals seek out illicit pills. “Snapchat is not a trusted pharmacy,” he explains.
The DEA does work with campus police and local law enforcement to address drug distribution in college environments. As Romig explains, officers often go undercover to find information from students, and locate and focus on students who may be having problems. “Fentanyl use isn’t the same as underage drinking or marijuana,” he says, “It’s way worse.”
Romig compares ending the opioid crisis with the way you would destroy a company like Walmart. “If you wanted to destroy Walmart, you could arrest the CEO, and people probably wouldn’t even know. Walmart would keep on turning. You could light some of the stores on fire, and guess what, they would just buy new stores. You could go after their banking, or seize their assets. Or you could tell people to stop shopping at Walmart, tell them that it’s bad for them.” He goes on, “If you do any one of those things, you’re probably not going to have too much success. You won’t make a dent on Walmart. But if you did all of those things at the same time, and aggressively, and successfully, you would actually have a chance at shutting them down.”
Romig explains that this is how the Mexican cartels operate, explaining that they’re essentially companies. “The only difference is they’re selling poison, not camping equipment.” Overall, he explains that both education and community outreach, along with targeting and shutting down the higher level entities and the mid level sellers, are essential to solving this problem.
A Mother’s Journey
For Strain, understanding addiction didn’t come naturally. When Thomas’ father died from addiction-related causes when Thomas was just four years old, her reaction reflected the most common misconceptions. “I remember thinking, ‘Why would you do that? You have kids, you have a job,’” she recalls of her thoughts as a young mother in her twenties. “I was never really exposed to addictions, I didn’t really understand it.”
That perspective changed dramatically as she watched addiction unfold in her own family. “It wasn’t until I saw it playing out in front of my eyes with Thomas that I realized it wasn’t that easy to just stop,” she says.
Strain’s experience led her to become an advocate for better education and support systems, particularly for families with genetic predispositions to addiction. She believes that conversations about substance use should start early, in age-appropriate ways. “With my younger grandkids, when they were two, we started talking about safety and making good choices and building healthy relationships,” she explains. By the time children are nine, Strain says, they’re already “aware of a lot more than we know about,” which is what makes these early conversations so important.
The generational component of addiction is something that Strain emphasizes strongly. She notes that children born with neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome have a higher probability of developing substance use disorders later in life. She argues that this is why focusing on early intervention, providing support for affected families, and actually addressing underlying factors that contribute to substance use across generations is so important.
The Fentanyl Factor
What makes today’s opioid crisis particularly deadly is fentanyl’s potency and unpredictability. The DEA warns that it’s nearly impossible to distinguish between legitimate prescription pills and counterfeits. Their message is simple but urgent: “Don’t take a pill that’s not been prescribed to you and doesn’t come from a pharmacy.”
Even fentanyl test strips, while helpful, have limitations. “The issue is you can test one pill, but you have to destroy the pill to test it. If it comes back negative, that doesn’t mean that the rest of the batch won’t be positive,” explains Lucey.
Strain describes the deadly gamble that users take. “It’s playing Russian roulette. The more substances you use, the tolerance gets higher.” She explains how someone accustomed to one dealer’s product might overdose when forced to switch suppliers, as potency varies dramatically. “Studies show that within a certain amount of feet of where [a dealer’s] business was ended, there’s a higher rate of overdoses within the coming days and weeks because those people are now going to person B to get their stuff,” Strain explains. “They’re taking the same amount that they would have taken with person A, but it’s much more potent, so it kills them.”
Signs of Hope
Despite the grim statistics, there are reasons for optimism. Strain explains that nowadays there is highly increased awareness and many more open discussions about drug misuse, which she says is significant progress from thirty years ago when “people didn’t talk about it.”
“We have come a long way that we can actually have conversations about this, that there’s actually legislation and things happening, good or bad, that are at least addressing and bringing these topics to light,” she says.
Organizations like Partnership to End Addiction are working to provide resources to those struggling with substance use and their families. Initiatives like “Mobilized Recovery Campus Surge,” a bus tour visiting college campuses to provide information and support, represent a strong effort to bring important knowledge across the country and to the most vulnerable groups.
Law enforcement is also adapting its approach. The DEA collaborates with campus police and participates in events like National Prescription Drug Takeback Day, held the last Saturday in April and October. These events provide safe disposal sites for unused medications while educating communities about the dangers of prescription drug misuse.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Patient Advocacy Program is an initiative that operates in the Office of Drug Surveillance and Misuse Prevention (ODSMP). This program is working hard on increasing naloxone accessibility, by administering grants to emergency departments, harm reduction organizations, and community organizations throughout Pennsylvania. They also have the First Responder Addiction and Connection to Treatment Program (FR-ACT) which was established to ensure first responders, public safety professionals and their agencies have the tools necessary to respond to the overdose epidemic. According to a representative, “Training is offered at no-cost and is available in all 67 counties in Pennsylvania,” and “After completing FR-ACT training, two doses of naloxone are distributed to participants to reinforce education content discussed regarding naloxone utilization and administration.”
From nationwide awareness campaigns to local efforts expanding access to education and life-saving resources like naloxone, these collective actions show a commitment to addressing the opioid crisis and finding a path towards recovery and prevention.
The Path Forward
For Strain, improving communication across systems is crucial. From grandparents raising grandchildren to foster and adoption systems to schools. She advocates for better substance education in K-12 schools, stating that quality of education varies widely despite requirements in states like Pennsylvania. “I think it would be a lot cheaper to deal with those issues now than try to fix it after,” she claims, referring to prevention versus treatment and incarceration. “It just feels like it would be more beneficial to start sooner.”
For those currently struggling, Strain recommends reaching out to resources like Partnership to End Addiction’s helpline (text CONNECT to 55753) or visiting safelocator.org to find treatment options. The organization offers free support staffed by clinicians and a peer parent coaching program.
The DEA’s message to college students is simple and direct: “Don’t take a pull that’s not been prescribed for you by a licensed pharmacist.” For those who ignore that message, they warn, “it comes down to Russian roulette.”
As the interview concluded, Strain shared a recent story of how her young granddaughter tried to check her Tylenol when she was sick, to make sure it wasn’t laced with Fentanyl. This serves as a sobering reminder of how this crisis touches even the youngest members of affected families.
“We have all of these children impacted because their parents are incarcerated or in active addiction, they’re away at treatment, or maybe one or both of their parents have died,” Strain says, highlighting what she sees as a critical area needing attention. “We’re still not addressing this. The impact on children is swept under the rug.”
For Thomas’s mother, the work continues. She remains a proud advocate for better resources, education, and understanding of a disease that took her son but did not take her determination to save others.
Sources
Kathleen Strain
kstrain@toendaddiction.org | 212-841-5265
Richard Lucey
richard.lucey@dea.gov | 571-776-3457
Joshua Romig
Joshua.B.Romig@dea.gov | 571-362-5336
Erin Knight-Grimming
Erin.E.Knight-Grimming@dea.gov
Pennsylvania Patient Advocacy Program
RA-DH-ADVOCACY@pa.gov | 844.377.7367
“That’s Not My Friend”: Christine Deal and Bucknell’s Quiet Shift Around Substance Use
By: Grace Maloney
When Christine Deal was a freshman in high school, she had a gut reaction and knew drugs and alcohol were not her thing. She went to a party with an older close friend who ended up highly intoxicated. “That person is not my friend; she’s not acting like herself,” Deal remembered thinking.
Seeing her best friend in a sloppy, drunk state struck her to her core. That night, Deal learned something about herself: a core value she would carry forward into her fifties. It wasn’t a speech or a health class that led her to realize her passion, it was her own reaction to seeing someone she loved become someone she didn’t recognize. Christine believes our reactions reveal a lot about our character. Because of that early experience, she encourages students to pay attention to their gut responses and trust what those instincts are telling them.
Deal is bringing that gut-level clarity to Bucknell University. She recently joined the Office of Health and Wellness as the Alcohol and Other Drug Specialist. In a place where weekend plans and assignment stress flow freely in conversation, the topic of opioids and drug misuse is often left unsaid. Bucknell is a small, close-knit community, and while it’s easy to assume the opioid crisis hasn’t reached Lewisburg, that’s likely not the case. Deal’s hiring, and other subtle changes around campus, may signal a shift in how Bucknell is beginning to approach this issue.
“Health and wellness is part of substance abuse,” Deal said. “And I’ve learned the more we tackle health and wellness, the more we can tackle substance abuse.”
Before coming to Bucknell, Deal worked as a treatment specialist, an outpatient drug and alcohol therapist, and a case manager for underage drinking court cases. She’s worked with people on the streets, seeing firsthand the toll of addiction she understands how complex and emotional substance use is. With a background in psychology, she has cultivated a master understanding of the severity of the emotional brain in decision making with drugs and alcohol. She approaches situations with a psychologist’s perspective, adding a psychological explanation to all the whys and hows we discussed.
“Substance abuse is very available,” she says. “And when anything is available, it’s always an option. So how do we avoid the options that are right in front of us?” Her answer? It comes from the inside a whole host of beliefs, values,and our understanding of what’s healthy and what’s not.
From her enthusiastic emails to pulling a chair close during our interview to make the conversation feel personal, Deal made it clear she was open and eager to talk. Still, she understands that despite her open-door approach, topics like opioids and fentanyl are ones many students hesitate to discuss.“On most college campuses, you’ll hear about alcohol or weed,” she said. “But the risk with opioids and street drugs is so much higher now because any of them could be laced. It’s not just about partying anymore. It’s life or death.”
That silence might be starting to break. After the death of a Bucknell student in April 2024, the university has taken several new steps. Deal’s position was created. Narcan testing strips, the opioid-reversal drug is widely available and routinely tested across campus. Public Safety practically shoves them down your throat—stop by their office, and they’ll be quick to hand them out and walk you through how to use them.
A new survey is also being distributed to students to collect data on drug use including opioids and fentanyl for the first time. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had solid data on this,” said John Dunkle from the Office of Health and Wellness. “This survey will really help us understand what’s actually happening with students right now”.
Some departments are still reluctant to speak publicly. In a recent interview, a Public Safety officer avoided making direct comments about opioids, sticking to general language around risk and awareness.
Meanwhile, the university has quietly added six pages to its “Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act” booklet since 2012. A new version was released in October 2024, with expanded policies on opioids and more mental health resources. These subtle shifts suggest the school is becoming more aware of the danger even if the conversations on campus haven’t quite caught up.
Sources
Christine Deal– cd039@bucknell.edu
John Dunkle– jhd019@bucknell.edu
Anybody’s Son: The Human Cost of a Pill Mill
Liana Schilling
As the hours piled up, Justin Strawser felt the weight of the time reflecting the heaviness of the forthcoming courtroom proceedings regarding Raymond Kryanak’s unlawful overprescription of opioids. He waited nine hours in the Williamsport federal courthouse designated for the jury selection, only for the extensive process to be ultimately in vain, as the selected jury would receive no case from the defense to counter the prosecution. Kraynak had accepted a plea deal.
Strawser is a Daily Item reporter, a Sunbury, Pennsylvania-based publication, not far from where Kraynak was practicing Osteopathy. Strawser graduated from Bloom University in 2008, where he ultimately began his journey in journalism that led him to become a reporter for the Daily Item.
When discussing his relationship with his journalism work, Strawser stated, “You’re there for the good days, but you’re also there for the worst days”. No doubt would the time he spent listening to details and the names of the victims of Kraynak’s overprescription consequences fall into his list of “worst days”.
Justin Strawser, journalist for the Daily Item
Strawser reflected on the prosecution, remembering how the Federal agents talked extensively about being amazed by the amount of pills Kraynak prescribed. “There were up to 4 spreadsheets filled with people who were victims. They had to narrow it down because you
can’t bring a thousand people into court.” Kraynak had prescribed around 9.5 million units of oxycodone, hydrocodone, oxycontin, and fentanyl to his patients in only three and a half years.
When asked to speculate about Kraynak’s motives for grossly overprescribing, Strawser believes his intentions can be found in the core of the community. Kraynak was a very established doctor whom most of his patients had seen since they were children. This trust aspect, coupled with the economically wounded, tight-knit community, manifested into an environment where individuals were seeking escape from their pain, and they turned to a trusting provider who indulged their requests.
Science and Struggle: Dr. Judy Grisel’s Perspective
Dr. Judy Grisel is a professor of Psychology at Bucknell University. She is the author a New York Times Bestselling novel titled Never Enough, which is both a testimony to her personal experience with drug addiction, as well as an informative proclamation of research on the neurological processes underlying addiction. She states very plainly in her novel that she had tried opioids in her youth, and if she had access to them, there was no doubt that she would have found herself in very similar positions to those who turned to Kraynak.
She recalled an instance in her residency where she worked alongside a dentist. She overheard a patient so desperate for an opioid prescription that they were inclined to have their perfectly healthy teeth pulled out. Dr. Grisel said that there was a call one time where a patient had repeated this process of teeth pulling and prescription reception, and she had no choice but to declare that she had no more teeth left to pull out.
When asked about what she believes began this overprescription epidemic, she points to a letter published in 1980 by the New England Journal of Medicine that was religiously miscited to support the notion that opioids were safe and led to the understanding that people in pain were essentially being underprescribed. She believes that this paper encouraged the view for doctors to adopt the belief system of “If you’re humane, give them medicine.”
Dr. Grisel believes that one of the biggest faults of current medicine practitioners is that they are not informed enough about how to prevent substance misuse. She gives talks ot physicians, educating them on what she knows about the neurological basis of addiction as well as reminds them of the immense benefits pharmaceutical companies receive from these prescribing practices, hoping to steer these physicians away from practices that rely on heavy rates of opioid prescription.
“Anybody’s Son”: A Father’s Grief
To understand the consequences of overprescription, leading to addiction, one can turn to family members of those affected who have lost their relationships with their loved ones due to addiction overtaking identities and all livelihoods. The father of a young man who had been prescribed opioids, became addicted, and sought many avenues to fufill the insatiable desire for the drugs, stated when asked about his son, “This doesn’t have to be about my son because my son is anybody’s son.”
The father finds himself in the same position as the family members of victims who died due to Kraynak’s overprescription practices. Strawser, when recalling the trial, remembers the desperation in the husband of one of Kraynak’s victims’ statement. The husband had become tired of seeing his sick wife withdrawing from the pills and booked an appointment and demanded that Kraynak tell him how he would help her.
The opioid epidemic is written across communities, families, and individual lives. Through the eyes of a journalist like Justin Strawser, the crisis becomes a collection of names, testimonies, and devastating truths. Through the research and lived experience of Dr. Judy Grisel, it becomes a neurological and societal reckoning. And through the heartbreak of families who have lost loved ones, it becomes a painfully human tragedy.
The case of Raymond Kraynak is not just about one doctor’s misuse of trust, it is a reflection of systemic failures, misguided medical norms, and a collective vulnerability. The path forward demands accountability, but also education and compassion. Strawser’s reporting experience has equipped him with the knowledge to know, “sometimes it is difficult for the public to have sympathy.” Only through overcoming this lack of sympathy can we find the courage needed to confront a crisis. The type of crisis that, as one father put it, could affect “anybody’s son.”
Sources
https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdpa/pr/mt-carmel-doctor-pleads-guilty-operating-massive-pill-mill
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-dis-crt-m-d-pen/2140797.html
Justin Strawser (email: jstrawser@dailyitem.com)
Dr. Judy Grisel (email: j.grisel@bucknell.edu)
[redacted] Frank Russo (phone: 908-347-3479)
Recovering From Addiction in the Susquehanna Valley
By: Jack Glassman
In his darkest moment Drew Lahr felt like there was no way to be free from his addiction and that there was no other option than to end it all. However, there are always opportunities for change and through the support of his family Mr. Lahr was able to free himself from substance abuse and now works with Susquehanna Valley Mediation to support others in overcoming their addiction.
During his childhood in Mount Carmel, PA, drug use was a common sight. Almost everyone in the community, including parents, friends, and siblings, struggled with some form of substance abuse often in the forms of alcohol or pills.
At this time, synthetic opioids like Oxycontin, began to be approved for use in the United States by the FDA. This painkiller became widely used throughout poorer communities like those in Mount Carmel.
When the drug was initially released, its developer Purdue Pharma claimed that Oxycontin had a low risk of addiction. However, in the following years, it became evident that this was not the case. The pills were highly addictive, which led to high amounts of abuse throughout the country.
Undereducated communities were hit the hardest by Oxycontin. The members of these communities were unaware of the risk of addiction. By Mr. Lahr’s account, “drug companies were pushing them hard,” so doctors were over prescribing Oxycontin en masse. The limited knowledge on the addictiveness of the drug combined with rampant overprescription lead to the opioid crisis that is still in effect till today.
At the age of fourteen, Mr. Lahr had begun to take Oxycontin. The addiction that followed acted as a gateway to other harder drugs. When he had first started taking Oxycontin, he did not think that it would lead down that path. “I never thought that I would stick a needle in my arm, let alone my neck,” he said.
Mr. Lahr continued to struggle with addiction for many years, ending up in jail from drug related charges in his early twenties. To start his recovery he needed to seek help. It was the love and support of his aunt and uncle that allowed him to start on the road to recovery.
The recovery process was not straightforward. After going through rehab the first time, he relapsed. It wasn’t until the second time in rehab that he was able to overcome his addiction. However, staying away from drugs was not the only part of recovery. Mr. Lahr says, “Stopping the drugs and alcohol is the easiest part. It’s harder to learn to live your life again.”
Returning to a normal routine is necessary for successful recovery. Now working with Susquehanna Valley Mediation he helps those that struggle with drug addiction to return to living normal lives. As part of his work with members to find work and safe housing. Mr. Lahr works to repair the relationships between family members.
Shawnee Robel is the director for families in recovery, which is a part of Susquehanna Valley Mediation, with the goal of supporting families that are struggling with addiction. The importance of this part of recovery is captured by her statement, “when addiction hurts a person it does not just hurt them it affects the people they love.”
The effects of addiction are not limited to the individual, but affect the people around them, so they all need to work together to recover. Mr. Lahr believes that sometimes “The family’s just as sick as the addict.” He means that their behavior has enabled the addiction of their family members and they need to play their part to create boundaries that support their recovery.
Within Snyder and Union county, Susquehanna Valley Mediation works with the Snyder-Union county drug court. The court presides over all drug related crimes and gives opportunities for recovery to those that have been convicted.
As explained by Judge Scott Zeigler, the process starts after conviction, where the offender is given an opportunity to apply for the program. This process tends to go quickly, with Judge Zeigler saying, “I don’t see them very long.” If they choose to join they need to be evaluated to know whether they are eligible.
They are moved over to the district attorney, who does the evaluation. The D.A. Brian Kerstetter gets to make the final decision and in his words, “If I disapprove they are done.” Once they are approved as part of the program they will be evaluated and have their needs determined.
Each case goes through a triage process to determine the level of care and attention that is needed. This is important because “we don’t want to mix high need with low need,” says probation officer Kristen Hollenbach.
Members of the program are then given access to medical and mental health assistance programs. They are also directed to participate in support groups like families in recovery. When asked about the effectiveness of the program, Judge Lori Hackenberg said, “They tend to show a lot of success.”
Programs like this one give opportunities and guidance to those struggling with addiction. In order to combat substance abuse one must first accept there is a problem, but they must not be consumed by shame.
When asked what people who are struggling with addiction need to hear most Mr. Lahr said, “Don’t live in shame … the moment you stand up to your shame is the moment it starts to crumble.”
Sources
Drew Lahr (570-728-5648)
Shawnee Robel (570-444-1024)
Judge Scott Zeigler (570-374-0111)
Judge Lori Hackenberg (570-837-4238)
DA Brian Brian Kerstetter (570-524-8651)
Probation Officer Kristen Hollenbach