Susan Ousterman: I lost my son, Tyler, to a fentanyl and xylazine overdose in October of 2020.
My son had become dependent on opioids and sought treatment and faced barrier after barrier from the system, from insurance companies, from the criminal justice system.
The first time he sought treatment was when I found out he was using opioids. Finally found a rehab that was 400 miles away. It was the only one that took his insurance at the time.
We began looking for treatment on our own, but while we were waiting, he started to get sicker. I flew him to the rehab that was over 400 miles away, and he stayed there for 30 days, and they gave him the naltrexone shot. But when he got home, insurance wouldn’t cover the shot, so they prescribed him the pills. He wasn’t very good at taking pills, so that was pretty ineffective. He returned to use.
He tried to access treatment probably a dozen more times through the years. He was rarely offered medication in these programs. He wasn’t receiving any type of mental health care that he needed. Usually there was a wait. There were no beds.
One time he went in and he was really not doing well, and they denied him treatment because his his drug test was negative. He had been using fentanyl, and they weren’t testing for that at that time. So he left and went and used so that he could test positive. And he overdosed in the lobby of the detox center. They revived him and took him next door to the hospital and called us. And even after that, they wouldn’t put him into a bed.
That was pretty eye opening.
He had been arrested for possession of a unused syringe, and put on probation. He contracted endocarditis from reusing syringes.
He wanted to use medical cannabis to help with his cravings. So he got his medical card, and it was very effective. It was helping him a lot. Then he was out with a friend, and they got pulled over, and he was taken into custody because he had an outstanding bench warrant for missing a probation appointment while he was getting open heart surgery. So he was incarcerated for two weeks.
They required him to be released to a county approved recovery house, which, of course, didn’t allow medical marijuana at the time. So he went there and he returned to use shortly after.
He didn’t want to use. He really wanted help, so he tried to go to detox, but we found out his Medicaid was terminated while he was incarcerated. So he applied for county funding and was denied for having a medical cannabis card. He ended up getting a scholarship to a fraudulent treatment provider because they allowed us to pay cash, and he died a week later.
I advocate for drug policy reform because I don’t want anyone else to feel the pain that I feel on a daily basis.
About Susan Ousterman: In 2020, Susan lost her son Tyler to an accidental overdose of fentanyl and xylazine. Today, she fiercely advocates for a public health approach to drug use to prevent overdose, improve health, and save lives.
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