16-year-old Cooper Davis is remembered as an adventurous and outgoing child. He was involved in many extreme sports. His mother, Libby Davis of Shawnee, Kansas, said she and her husband Randy would be watching him with “one eye open.” “Just because, you know, in his mind there was nothing that was too high or too fast,” he explained in a Friday interview with Fox News Digital. “He loved life.” His parents, who work in the medical field, knew he used some marijuana recreationally, but they did everything they could to try to limit that use. “We were not aware that he had ever used anything that looked like a pill before,” he said. Her son was hanging out with his girlfriend and three other boys at a friend’s house last year. One of the friends had purchased what they believed to be two Percocet pills from a dealer in Missouri using Snapchat. SEN. MARSHALL BLASTS CDC FOR NOT DECLARING FENTANYL EMERGENCY: ‘WHAT ARE WE DOING?’ They handed out the blue pills — Cooper took half of one — not knowing they were fake and laced with the synthetic opioid fentanyl. While Cooper’s friends survived, he did not. Davis and her husband received a call from Sonny police saying their son was receiving medical attention and headed to his location. “By the time we got there, they had already worked on him, basically, for about 40 minutes,” he added. Davis was taken to the emergency room, but efforts to revive him were unsuccessful. A toxicology report revealed that there was no Percocet in the pill. After their son’s death, the Davis family made “Keepin’ Clean for Coop” bumper stickers and started the Cooper Davis Memorial Foundation, with a mission to spread awareness about the dangers of counterfeit pills – and with the goal of saving lives. 16-year-old Cooper Davis died after taking half a fentanyl pill. (Credit: Libby Davis/Senator Roger Marshall) “So we knew right away that we had to try to reach as many people as we could to make sure they knew about this dangerous drug floating around in every community in America,” Davis said, noting that she wanted Cooper’s story to serve as a warning. history. “It only takes one time,” he pointed out, advising parents to constantly talk to their children about the dangers. Davis said it hasn’t gotten any easier to talk about what happened to her son. “It’s really not real until I have to say it out loud. And I tell people my life is messed up because when I go do things like this, I think, ‘This is great. I’m so excited to be able to do this,” he said of the interview. “And then, in that same thought, I think, ‘There’s no place I wish I didn’t have to be today, except what I’m about to do.’ While Cooper’s case is still under investigation, Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall introduced a bipartisan bill Friday bearing her son’s name. The Cooper Davis Act recognizes that drug cartels responsible for trafficking fentanyl have established online distribution networks using social media platforms. The measure will require social media companies and other communications service providers to take a more active role in working with federal agencies to combat the illegal sale and distribution of drugs on their platforms. The move was announced during a press conference Friday morning in Overland Park, Kansas. Marshall and seven other Republican senators sent a letter to the CEOs of Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and TikTok last week, asking them to identify “steps [the] companies take it upon themselves to protect children and fight illegal drug sales [their] platforms” and “[recognize] the role [the] platforms play into the evolving illicit drug ecosystem.” Libby Davis and Kansas Senator Roger Marshall announce the Cooper Davis Act. (Credit: Libby Davis/Senator Roger Marshall) FORMER FENTANYL ADDICTED DESCRIBES RECOVERY AS STATE DRUGS ARE MADE BY Smuggling “It wasn’t an overdose. This was poisoning,” Marshall told Fox News Digital. “And, that’s my message today. It goes out to all the attorneys general out there across the state, federal prosecutors, county prosecutors … This is murder. And as such it should be prosecuted.” The senator, who practiced medicine in Great Bend for more than 25 years, said social media companies should be proactive in looking for emojis and drug sales. Davis pointed out that the cartels have created an emoji code for drugs. Social media companies should notify authorities when they see these codes. “Kansas had the second highest increase in overdose deaths last year in the entire country. Just highlighting that we’re at this crossroads of drug trafficking — that we look like we’re a border state,” Marshall said. Fentanyl, he says, is cheap and readily available to young adults who are self-medicating. “They feel depressed. They can’t concentrate. So they get that Adderall prescription online,” Marshall continued. “And, Adderall, or Xanax is another one of the big ones … and they’re laced with fentanyl.” Cooper Davis’ toxicology report revealed that there was no Percocet in the pill. (Credit: Libby Davis/Senator Roger Marshall) The senator believes the fentanyl crisis should be declared a public health emergency. While fentanyl overdose deaths are high, it is not the leading cause of death among all US adults. The CDC also says it has not yet verified that fentanyl is the leading killer among Americans ages 18-45. But the CDC said in a July speech to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that provisional data show that more than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in the 12 months ending in January, with 66.5% of these. deaths involving synthetic opioids and mainly illicitly manufactured fentanyl. The same data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics showed that deaths from synthetic opioids increased from more than 57,800 in 2020 to 71,238 in 2021. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said she has been in talks with the Department of Health and Human Services. Xavier Becerra about declaring the crisis a public health emergency, but did not say whether he had recommended it to Becerra. Fox News’ request for comment from the CDC was not immediately returned. Davis, Marshall and the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) are warning about rainbow fentanyl ahead of the Halloween holiday and spotlighted a DEA program called Operation Engage. Operation Engage was created to tackle the drug epidemic nationwide and connect local agencies with their communities. “The Cooper Davis Act is trying to save lives, but we know the real root of the problem is a porous southern border,” Marshall argued, saying he had seen firsthand how border agents were so busy trying to keep up with illegal immigrants . that they couldn’t keep up with the cartels. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Marshall and five Kansas sheriffs traveled to the southern border in May for a tour and meetings with federal and Texas state officials. In a Justice Department announcement in August, U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman called the amount of fentanyl seized at the border “staggering.” “Again, Kansas went from one death a day to four deaths a day this year. This is really the number one health issue for young adults in the state of Kansas,” he concluded. The Kansas Prescription Drug and Opioid Advisory Board reported in November 2021 that overdose deaths from synthetic opioids, mostly caused by fentanyl, increased 130% from 2019 to 2020. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Julia Musto is a reporter for Fox News Digital. You can find her on Twitter at @JuliaElenaMusto.
