Guests - Jason Sheppard, Katey McPherson

The Fentanyl Crisis: Fighting America's Top Killer

Fentanyl poisoning has become America's number one killer for citizens aged 18-49. It's also the fastest-growing killer of children under 14, with approximately 22 children dying weekly—88 kids per month—from this lethal substance.

JC Sheppard, founder of Fentanyl Test, has developed the world's first FDA-cleared over-the-counter test to detect this deadly drug without diluting the tested substance. Unlike other tests on the market, Shepard's innovation doesn't require users to destroy their drugs by mixing them with water—a requirement that made previous testing methods impractical.

"Our product completely preserves the evidence 100%," Sheppard explains. "We definitely want law enforcement to use it."

Sheppard's background isn't in medicine or law enforcement, but in information technology. "I was a manager of IT at a very large, second largest health insurer, as well as health network in our tri-state area," he shares. While training hospital staff on system updates, he witnessed the devastating impact of fentanyl firsthand. "I got extremely sick of seeing almost every individual under the age of 25 coming in for acute fentanyl toxicity. And we're talking most of the time those people are dead."

This experience inspired him to create solutions to a problem that existing tests weren't addressing. His company now produces multiple testing tools, including urine dip cards for parents and probation officers, and harm reduction strips that require no dilution of the substance. The urine test provides results within five minutes, dramatically faster than laboratory toxicology reports that can take up to three months.

Targeting America's Young Adults

The fentanyl crisis isn't just a public health emergency—it's potentially a deliberate attack on America's future. "If you look at what China is doing... this is the best way to do that is to cripple, like you stated, the young adult population," Sheppard notes. With China supplying the key ingredients for fentanyl production and Mexico providing manufacturing facilities, the drug flows freely across the border, targeting primarily Americans between 18-34 years old.

"They're trying to buy up our farmland. They're trying to buy up businesses," Sheppard explains. "The cartel does not care because they're getting paid to get that across the border. They're getting paid by China. They don't care what's in it."

The scale of the crisis is likely underreported. While official statistics cite 130,000 deaths in 2023, 87,000 last year, and an estimated 55,000-60,000 in the last 12 months, these numbers don't account for the homeless population, which is being "completely decimated" by fentanyl. "We are losing probably 150,000 homeless people per year that never get an autopsy, meaning that they're not statistically added to these results," Shepard notes.

Former President Trump has estimated the annual death toll between 200,000-300,000, which Sheppard believes is accurate. The threat is evolving, with new substances like nitazines—up to 40 times stronger than fentanyl—and xylazine (known as "Trank") now entering the drug supply.

"Xylazine is the one where you see individuals just basically crippled in their own body where they can't move," Sheppard explains. "It literally will rot your skin away with necrosis... it's a tranquilizer. It literally is mixed with fentanyl and this is what people are getting so addicted to."

Legislative Barriers to Testing

Despite the deadly consequences of fentanyl, eight states—including Texas, the largest border state—still classify test strips as illegal drug paraphernalia. This legal barrier prevents potentially life-saving testing from reaching those who need it most.

Sheppard and his organization are working with advocacy groups like Lost Voices of Fentanyl, Texas Against Fentanyl, and Facing Fentanyl to change these laws. "These individuals have suffered loss, and they understand what it is like, and they don't want to have anybody suffer loss, especially children," he explains.

The Trump administration has taken steps toward addressing the crisis, declaring organizations that facilitate fentanyl sales as terrorist organizations and designating a National Poison Prevention Week. However, legislative change is still needed to make testing tools widely available.

"We're not going out there and marketing this as, 'Hey, now you can use drugs cleanly. Go use drugs.' That's not our forte in any way, shape, or form, or our delivery method," Sheppard emphasizes. "If you really want to stop deaths, they're going to have to legalize these and state here, 'Look, if you're going to do this and we know you're going to do this, please keep yourself safe.'"

Fentanyl Poisoning vs. Overdose

Importantly, Sheppard clarifies that 87% of fentanyl deaths aren't actually overdoses: "87% of the individuals don't know it contains fentanyl." This distinction matters because it changes how we understand and address the crisis.

Many victims don't choose to take fentanyl—they consume pills or other substances without knowing they contain this lethal compound. "One of the situations here, we had a young man, he was in his early 30s. His neighbor gave him a pill. The pill had come from Mexico and it killed him. He wasn't a drug user. He wasn't addicted. It was one pill and dead," Winn recalls.

The company offers several testing options, from single-panel fentanyl tests to multi-panel options that can detect additional substances like xylazine, nitazines, benzodiazepines, cocaine, methamphetamine, oxycodone, and THC. These tools may be crucial not only for active users but also for concerned parents and caretakers.

School Sexual Misconduct: A Systemic Failure

While fentanyl poses an external threat to America's children, sexual misconduct in schools represents an institutional failure to protect the most vulnerable. Katie McPherson, a youth mental health and school safety advocate, highlights the alarming statistics: in 2023 alone, 272 reports of sexual misconduct were filed with the Arizona Department of Education investigation unit. Of these, 106 resulted in the loss of a teaching or administrative certificate—meaning 39% of complaints to the Arizona Department of Education involve sexual misconduct between educators and students.

"We have a lot of grooming going on," McPherson explains. "In Arizona, if there's no penetration of genitalia, there's no touching of breasts... a lot of things can go on." Current statutes make it difficult to prosecute behaviors like sexually motivated statements, inappropriate physical contact, or boundary violations. "It's very hard to prove under our current statute."

Even the mandatory reporting statute has limitations, covering only physical injury, emotional abuse, and neglect. "I've talked to several police officers and detectives and they're like, 'Yeah, this stuff that you're telling me kind of falls in a gray area,'" McPherson notes.

Chandler Unified School District Case

A recent case in Chandler Unified School District illustrates the systemic failures in addressing sexual misconduct in schools. Thirteen girls reported being inappropriately touched by a 67-year-old male teacher, with behaviors ranging from grabbing and groping to caressing and putting his hands inside their jeans.

Rather than properly reporting the teacher to authorities and protecting the students, five administrators allowed him to retire with no consequences. "When he was allowed to retire in March of '21, he went on to a charter school in central Phoenix and has pending alleged charges for sexual assault of an eighth-grade student in the city of Phoenix," McPherson reveals.

The Professional Practice Advisory Committee (PPAC) of the State Board of Education reviewed the case and recommended disciplinary actions for the administrators—ranging from a letter of censure to three-year suspensions of their certificates. However, at a seven-hour hearing, the State Board voted 3-2 to send the case back for individual hearings, effectively delaying justice and forcing the victims to relive their trauma through multiple testimonies.

"Six months to a year from now, these children and these families, to include parents, have to go to four separate hearings and retell the story and be retraumatized all over again and have no closure after this has taken four years to get there," McPherson explains.

Protecting Adults Over Children

The hearing revealed a disturbing pattern of prioritizing adult reputations over child safety. Despite clear evidence of misconduct, 25 speakers testified to the administrators' character and professional standing, while barely mentioning the victims.

"No one mentioned the victims except two or three of us who were there to advocate for the children," McPherson recalls. "The question at hand was not about the moral character [of the administrators]. It was about a decision they made collectively to not handle the problem and to 'pass the trash.'"

"Pass the trash" refers to the practice of allowing educators accused of misconduct to resign or retire without consequences, often enabling them to move to other schools where they continue harmful behaviors.

The administrators' defense centered on minimizing the teacher's actions as merely "boundary-pushing behavior" or being a "touchy teacher," rather than recognizing it as grooming and luring. "None of them understood the gravity of what grooming and luring is at all," McPherson states.

This failure to take sexual misconduct seriously continues to put students at risk. Despite claims that procedures have improved since this incident, McPherson disputes this: "I can emphatically say they have not because I have a child in a classroom, and I had to go forward in November of 2024 and say the same thing I have a classroom teacher who is targeting girls in the classroom, saying very inappropriate sexually motivated things."

Legislative Efforts and Future Actions

Both Shepard and McPherson are working on legislative solutions to protect children. Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell has proposed a bill that would ensure reports of sexual misconduct in schools are handled by forensically trained investigators rather than school resource officers (SROs), who often lack specialized training.

"The protocol in all jurisdictions that I've checked with in the East Valley is you ask limited information and you pass it off to a detective who is forensically trained, and that has not been happening," McPherson explains. The bill has passed through the Arizona House and Senate and awaits the governor's signature.

Meanwhile, the family of one of the victims in the Chandler Unified case has filed a federal civil suit under Title IX against the district, the superintendent, the five administrators, and their spouses. This case is scheduled for June, though it may face delays.

"When the federal hearing for Title IX... it's going to be held in Phoenix federal court," McPherson confirms. "The federal court's not going to care if their neighbors and their friends and their cousins like them."

Protecting Children's Innocence

Both conversations highlight a fundamental issue: the loss of innocence among America's children. "The age of innocence for children is absolutely gone," Shepard observes, a sentiment echoed by McPherson in discussing sexual misconduct in schools.

This loss of innocence isn't accidental—it's potentially part of a coordinated effort to undermine the next generation through multiple vectors: drug poisoning, sexual exploitation, and human trafficking.

"Fentanyl is extremely prevalent in human trafficking. This is the drug that they get people to be pliable with, basically compliant with what they want. They get them hooked on something or they even use it to incapacitate that person," Shepard explains.

The solutions require vigilance, advocacy, and accountability. Whether through improved testing resources for fentanyl detection or stronger enforcement of misconduct policies in schools, protecting children demands both institutional reform and community involvement.

As Winn emphasizes, "If we allow this to stand, we are saying it's okay to molest our kids. We're saying it's okay to hyper-sexualize them. We are not saying it's okay—not today, not on my watch."