Iowa fentanyl victim's parents attending State of the Union: 'There are kids dying every day'
Grieving parents demand action from Biden on staggering opioid overdose deaths
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The grieving parents of a young Iowa fentanyl poisoning victim are set to attend President Biden's State of the Union address Thursday night.
Des Moines residents Deric and Kathy Kidd joined "Fox & Friends First" Thursday to voice their expectations of Biden's address to the nation.
"There are kids dying every day," Kathy told host Carley Shimkus.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I’d love to hear a plan that’s going to be put in place, that’s going to prevent this from happening to other families."
Sebastian Kidd (Kidd Family)
The couple lost their 17-year-old son, Sebastian, to fentanyl poisoning on July 30, 2021.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We can’t help but think that our son may still be here if policies were enforced," said Deric. "If the border was under control."
Sebastian overdosed on half a pill laced with fentanyl after consuming what he believed to be Percocet, purchased through Snapchat.
"There are so many people that don’t realize the fentanyl crisis is real," Deric said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"And it’s here."
Sebastian was a rising high school senior battling anxiety and depression.
"We have to focus on the mental health resources," Deric urged.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The grieving parents will join Iowa Republican Rep. Zach Nunn in Washington, D.C., Thursday evening.
"They highlighted: would their son Sebastian still be with us if the administration had done its job?" Rep. Nunn said.
"Securing the border, stopping Chinese-made fentanyl from being mass-produced, sent to cartels in Mexico that end up in places like Iowa – in the heartland."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Nunn has been advocating for solutions to the opioid crisis in Congress as Biden faces mounting criticism for surging illegal immigration and a drug epidemic fueled by the administration’s border policies.
In recent years, fentanyl has been a primary driver of the U.S. overdose epidemic. Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. went up slightly in 2022 after two big leaps during the pandemic, and provisional data for the first nine months of 2023 suggests it inched up last year.
Border Patrol agents seized enough fentanyl to kill the entire U.S. population in fiscal year 2023 as agents struggle to contend with a record-setting migrant crisis at the southern border.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.