Cantwell Congratulates Bellevue Fentanyl Prevention Advocate on Receiving DEA Award

Cantwell Congratulates Bellevue Fentanyl Prevention Advocate on Receiving DEA Award

Agency recognized Washington mom as "one of America's most effective voices in fentanyl prevention"

WASHINGTON, D.C. - This week, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Terry Cole presented the Fentanyl Free America Prevention Award to Laura Lynch, a Bellevue mother who lost her teenage daughter, Brillion Lynch, to a fentanyl poisoning in April 2021, just days after her eighteenth birthday.

In the years since her daughter's death, Laura Lynch has become an impactful advocate and delivered "One Pill Can Kill" presentations to more than 30,000 students in 20 schools across Washington state. Laura has also advocated for fentanyl prevention with youth organizations, parents, and civic leaders, and has visited multiple times with U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) to work toward strong federal legislation to protect families from fentanyl.

"Congratulations to Laura Lynch for receiving DEA's Fentanyl Free America award for Excellence in Prevention. Laura's decision to transform personal grief into prevention education and policy advocacy will help countless families. Our work at the federal level including developing legislation is made possible by unwavering advocates like Laura," Sen. Cantwell said.

Sen. Cantwell has collaborated with Laura Lynch to develop additional federal action, including how to crack down on local dealers using social media to sell dangerous and potentially deadly counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl to unsuspecting young people. In 2023 and 2024, Sen. Cantwell also traveled across the State of Washington to 10 communities -- Tacoma, Everett, Tri-Cities, Seattle, Spokane, Vancouver, Port Angeles, Walla Walla, Yakima, and Longview - hearing from people on the front lines of the fentanyl crisis, including first responders, law enforcement, health care providers, and people with firsthand experience of fentanyl addiction.

Sen. Cantwell has since used what she heard and learned from Laura Lynch and people across the state to craft and champion specific bipartisan legislative solutions, including bills to expand a Washington state-developed, low-barrier fentanyl treatment pilot program across the United States; provide tools and resources to help states, local governments, law enforcement, and tribes respond to the opioid crisis in communities that need them most; crack down on the trafficking of illicit synthetic drugs, like fentanyl, using the U.S. transportation network; fight money laundering that supports and enables traffickers; and direct actions to fight new and emerging threats as the opioid crisis evolves, like xylazine and others.

A full timeline of Sen. Cantwell's actions and legislative proposals to combat the fentanyl crisis is available HERE.