“Bryan was doing really really well,”; Father speaks on lose of son to overdose
Lexington, Ky. (WTVQ) — The Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission held a meeting in Lexington Friday morning. During the meeting, Vice Chair Tara Stanfield, spoke about the commissions purpose.
Along with a father, who’s been hit hard by the opioid crisis.
“If he was here right now he would be making you laugh,” said Rick Kallop.
Almost a year ago, Kallop lost his son, Bryan, to an overdose. It came as a shock.
“What was strange with this, Bryan was doing really really well,” said Kallop. “Matter of fact, it was Wednesday morning that he passed away. He was at my house Tuesday evening, six o’clock, showing me his new Mustang GT and how we were going to fix it up. Then I get a knock on the door at 4:30 in the morning that he had passed away at 1:30 just eight hours later.”
In January the health department reported seeing an unusually high number of non-fatal drug overdoses. In just two weeks, they had seen 46 overdoses.
Kallop spoke about what kind of drugs we are seeing here in Lexington.
“We’re seeing all the normal drugs. Heroin, cocaine, all different kinds of Xanax’s come pouring in from China. ”
Kallop says his son bought pills from china to help with his anxiety, which started his addiction.
The Opioid Abatement Commission was created to help with overdoses.
“All of us have our expertise that we’re going to bring to the table,” said Vice Chair Tara Stanfield. “We’re really just in the phase now of assessing the patient. All we’re doing is, putting it out there in the community to hear from our community partners, to hear from people who have experienced tragedy because of addiction and to really get a feel for what’s out there.”
Stanfield says Mayor Gorton wants them to find something that works both at the individual level and city level.
“She does not want a recommendation from this crew for months. She wants us to do the work and to take our time and not feel any since of a rush to come out, throw out some expert answer.”
The commission meets on the second Friday of every month.
