Michelle Watson, the founder of the 1:11 Project, said she lost her son to fentanyl in 2020, which led her to research and realize the widespread issue, driving her to become an advocate despite facing depression, especially as she saw more young people dying from fentanyl. Watson was a guest on a recent episode of the Best of Midland Podcast.
"I lost my son Malachi to Sentinel back in 2020," said Watson on a recent edition of the Best of Midland Podcast. "After that happened, I had no idea what fentanyl even was, but once I did a little bit of research, I was like, whoa, this is happening all over. And it was happening really frequently. So I said, I want to be this, like, advocate I'm going to go out, I'm going to save the world. And then I got really depressed for a year.”
“I had noticed that there were more and more and more kids," Watson said. “I see kids and it's all over, but more young people dying. One pill kills, and every 11 minutes, someone was dying from fentanyl."
Watson is the founder of the 1:11 Project, a registered non-profit organization focused on raising awareness about the dangers of fentanyl and combating its misuse.
Best of Midland Podcast is hosted by Ryan Shewchuk and Terra Avery. It is an extension of the broader Best of Midland program, which aims to support small, local businesses by showcasing them and the people behind them. Their website lists top businesses and upcoming live events happening in the area.
The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.