Lives Interrupted tells the stories of 80 fentanyl victims — people of all ages, from Florida to California to Ottawa. Some were born into hardship. Others had every advantage. Featuring full-color photos of real people gone too soon, the book seeks to move beyond statistics, putting a human face on the crisis, raising awareness, and giving allies a resource to fight fentanyl, the deadliest drug scourge in history.
“Thanks to the tireless work of investigative journalist Ben Westhoff, policymakers and government leaders around the world will get a historical account of the pain and devastation American families have endured to help society turn the page on this preventable epidemic.”
— Sen. Chuck Grassley, from the Lives Interrupted foreword
“The parents and families of the victims profiled here have, in overwhelming numbers, turned their pain outward. They have founded nonprofits and fought for legislation. They have placed Narcan at gas stations and spoken at school assemblies. They have gone to state capitals, to Congress, to the White House. They have refused to let their loved ones become statistics.
— Ben Westhoff, Editor
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
For Families and Advocates
- Share it with someone who needs to know they aren’t alone in this fight.
- Bring it to a support group, memorial event, or awareness gathering.
- Donate copies to schools, libraries, faith communities, or local organizations.
- Reach out if you’d like a partner in your own advocacy work.
For Lawmakers and Policy Makers
- Distribute it to colleagues, constituents, or at district events as a constituent resource.
- Give it away at Hill briefings featuring survivors and family members.
- Cite relevant profiles as supporting documentation for hearings or legislation (e.g., Bruce’s Law, Rain’s Law).
- Reference a constituent’s story in a floor statement, press release, or social media post.
For Health Departments and Hospital Systems
- Place copies in clinics, community health centers, and waiting rooms.
- Integrate it into naloxone distribution, peer recovery, and outreach programs as a narrative supplement.
- Use relevant profiles to support school-based prevention curricula.
- Partner with us on a community forum, press release, or co-authored op-ed.
For the Media
- Publish a story about the Lives Interrupted and its efforts to raise fentanyl awareness
- Highlight the outreach or educational efforts of a family or group profiled in the book
- Interview editor Ben Westhoff about how to fight the fentanyl epidemic
- Interview director Dan Baldwin about the work that he leads at PAX sapiens
Learn more at www.livesinterrupted.org
Contact: ben.westhoff@gmail.com; DBaldwin@PAXsapiens.org
About the Editor: Ben Westhoff is a best-selling investigative journalist and one of the world’s foremost experts on fentanyl. For his book Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Created the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic, he was interviewed on The Joe Rogan Experience and Fresh Air. He delivered a TEDx talk at Purdue University and has written about the epidemic for The New York Times and The Atlantic. Westhoff has advised top government officials on fentanyl, including from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, the U.S. embassy in Beijing, and the U.S. State Department. He speaks at conferences and summits around the world, and was recently the Norman E. Zinberg Memorial Lecture awardee from Harvard Medical School.
About the Publisher: PAX sapiens works to prevent predictable global catastrophes through new systems of collective coordination. PAX sapiens’ goal is a more peaceful world, and when it comes to fentanyl control, the Joint Action on Drug Elimination (JADE) initiative fosters international anti-narcotics cooperation. By bringing the United States and China to the same table, they align efforts where political sensitivities or intelligence gaps might otherwise stall progress.
