By Frank Giles
I’ve been attending the Southeast Regional Fruit & Vegetable Conference in Savannah for nearly 20 years. This year, like always, it was a great event where I learned a lot. But in all those years, I can’t recall sitting in on a presentation that was as emotionally challenging and as important as one I attended this year.
The topic was the fentanyl crisis in agriculture. Participants included Gus and Beth Walters, Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper, Georgia State Senator Russ Goodman and Harlan Proveaux, chief of law enforcement for the Georgia Department of Agriculture.
Gus told the story of his son Austin, who lost his life to one pill of what he thought was Xanax. Like many, Austin suffered from bouts of depression and anxiety, so he had turned to the drug to relieve stress. The problem was the pill was not a prescription. It was bought from the streets and laced with fentanyl. A great young man who was loved by many lost his life to one small pill.
And for the person who sold him the drug, there was only a slap on the wrist due to the laws on the books at the time. That changed with the passage of Austin’s Law in 2024, which Goodman was the primary sponsor. The law elevated selling fentanyl-laced drugs to felony aggravated involuntary manslaughter. Convictions now carry 10- to 30-year sentences.
The Walters family has turned their tragedy into a mission for good by spreading the word that “one pill kills” and providing resources to help educate others about the dangers. In addition to advocating for the new law, they started a foundation (Austins-Law.com) to help raise awareness about fentanyl.
It is an important message. The statistics about the toll of this drug are staggering. More than 100,000 lives are lost in America to fentanyl every year. That’s more than 200 people a day. During his remarks, Gus asked what we would do as a country if an airplane fell out of the sky every day and 200 lives were lost. The world would stop to address the problem. But he said fentanyl is a silent killer, and that’s the problem.
The statistics on the direct impact to people in agriculture are a little harder to quantify, but Austin worked in ag. He was a top farm equipment salesman in South Georgia. Harper noted that two farmers in Georgia had recently lost their lives to the drug. It is a problem in agriculture.
The big message the speakers wanted to convey was to have the hard conversations with family and friends, even younger kids. Everyone must understand it is not safe to take any pill or drug that is not prescribed directly to you. There is no second chance if you take one of these laced drugs.
The speakers challenged everyone in the crowd to spread the word no matter how difficult or awkward the conversations might be. I am sure Gus has delivered this message many times before, but his voice still cracked with the emotion that doesn’t go away.
Take this message to heart and spread it to others: One pill kills. Don’t take that chance with your life.
Click here to watch a video about the fentanyl crisis.