Carrie Luther, a Bay Area mother who lost her son Tosh to fentanyl poisoning in 2015, is taking her message to the masses by partnering with the San Francisco Giants to raise awareness about the dangers of the deadly drug. Tosh died after taking a counterfeit Xanax pill laced with fentanyl, and since then, Luther has made it her mission to warn others about the risks.
“One-quarter pill can kill, and that’s the truth. They’ve got to know they’re playing with fire,” Luther said, reflecting on the tragic loss of her son. “You know, it will be nine years in October, but that doesn’t change the trauma of having lost him that way.”
Luther has been sharing her son’s story in schools across the Bay Area and beyond and recently started a billboard campaign featuring Tosh. “We’re trying to expand,” she explained. “The billboard right now is just located in a small community in the Watsonville area, which is near where my son grew up.”
Now, she’s calling on some heavy hitters—the San Francisco Giants—to help expand her campaign. The partnership is especially meaningful to Luther, as Tosh was a devoted Giants fan. “He was a rabid Giants fan, and we would all go to games. Whenever we could get there, we would get there,” she said, recalling the first season without her son. “So many moments I felt I had to pick up the phone to call him to talk about what was happening pre-season, and that was really hard when I realized I can’t do that anymore.”
The Giants are stepping up by hosting their first Fentanyl Awareness Day and helping Luther raise funds for her campaign. “As an organization that feels really passionately and deeply about impacting the city of San Francisco, we knew we had to figure out a way to be a connector for resources for people who have shared experiences,” said Tess Oliphant, the Giants’ director of community relations.
Star pitcher Logan Webb has been at the forefront of the team’s efforts, after losing his cousin Kade to fentanyl. “It’s something that’s impacted Logan deeply and something he’s been really passionate about raising awareness for,” Oliphant added.
For Luther, the support from the Giants is invaluable, but her work is far from done. “All I know is lots and lots of lives have been saved, and that brings me joy that other families are being saved from this tragedy,” she said.