ST. TAMMANY PARISH, La. — It was the biggest drug bust in St. Tammany Parish’s history. Police seized 26 pounds of the deadly opioid fentanyl, along with multiple other drugs, and stolen guns and cars.
Now as several alleged dealers are taken off of the streets, two Northshore families are speaking out. One also has advice about medications to treat the addiction.
Eric Bowen was the smart, protective big brother. And a protector as he served the country in the U.S. Army overseas. While paratrooping, he suffered a painful injury. He was prescribed opioid painkillers. That was years ago. Then on New Year's Eve, in 2021, his mom Michelle Arthur got a knock on her door in Slidell. It was the coroner.
“He never would have thought he would die from fentanyl. They found him right around the corner. I didn't even know that this house even existed, that I have to pass every day to get to my house, and that's hard,” said Arthur about losing her first-born child.
Eric was only 32. On behalf of a grateful nation, he was buried with military honors, and was laid to rest in the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Cemetery.
“I pass there every day, and I blow the horn. ‘Hey, Eric.’ You know?”
He had a Front Street banner along with other hometown heroes.
“And I would sit there, and just look at him and cry, and that got me through, you know, because I could see him every day, you know, but I can't,” Arthur remembers.
So, the largest fentanyl bust in St. Tammany Parish history by Slidell Police, and their federal agent partners, the FBI, DEA, and Homeland Security this week, is personal for Michelle.
“I am now super so proud of the police department. It's just a viscous, scary world. Anybody who deals it should totally be locked up for murder,” she said.
“This is crazy, but there's opportunists who come in from other states that find out that there's been bust, and these dealer's have been shut down, and they come in and try to seize the market,” said Dan Schneider of Mandeville.
Schneider also lost his son, Little Danny, because of his addiction. A registered pharmacist, his story is told in the Netlix streaming docuseries "The Pharmacist." He says studies show when major dealers are taken off of the streets, overdoses rise in the short term. He wants to prevent that.
“If we could get a message out to the people out there who have lost their supplier, now just don't go buy anything on the street. OK. There's an answer for you to solve your withdrawal problems,” said Schneider.
He says ask a doctor for a prescription for buprenorphine or suboxone.
“He's treating the brain condition of addiction. OK? And all of a sudden it takes away their withdrawals, their cravings, and they have a chance at recovery,” he explained.
“They need to educate these kids, and not even just kids, adults,” said Arthur.
Just this week, the National Institute on Drug Abuse announced a new finding, that only 22% of adults with opioid use disorder got the medications to treat their addictions.
For more information on substance and mental health treatment programs, call the free and confidential National Helpline 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or visit www.FindTreatment.gov.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.