COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — Fentanyl-related overdose deaths in Colorado declined about 32% in 2024, according to CDC data. While this indicates a decrease, experts caution that numbers remain highly elevated compared to pre-Covid levels.
And one Colorado Springs father, who lost a son to fentanyl, now runs a non-profit and is partnering with a new device company that he thinks could have saved his teenager’s life.
“He’s my first thought when I go to bed and my first thought when I get up in the morning,” says George Gerchow.
George Gerchow’s son, Xavier, died in March 2021. He was just 17.
“I love him and miss him,” says Gerchow. “I carry him everywhere I go.”
He says Xavier wasn’t a drug user. He took half a pill from a friend, believing it was a Percocet, but it turned out to be laced with fentanyl. And it killed him.
“This necklace I wear has his ashes in it,” says Gerchow.
“When we saw his death certificate the coroner was kind enough to write notes in it and talk about toxicity and not overdose which is really the problem that we see today,” says Gerchow. “People are getting substances unknown to them that are in their pills or illicit drugs and lots of other things that create poisoning. And the one conversation I never had with him was don’t take a pill from an unknown source.”
In the four years since Xavier’s passing, the Gerchows created the XFoundation non-profit. Focused on Fentanyl education, youth outreach and making harm reduction tools more accessible.
“People are going to be curious and want to experiment,” says Gerchow. “The idea that people won’t do any of this, while we wish that was true, that’s just not feasible today.”
And now XFoundation is teaming up with DEFENT. An easy-to-use detection device to prevent fentanyl poisoning.
“Drop the substance in there, close the top and then give it a little bit of a shake, says Junaid Mohiuddin, the co-funder and CEO of DEFENT. “You have a safety pin that prevents a premature test to run. And then you would just click the button or push upwards on the base, give it 3 minutes and put it on the table or counter or just hold it in your hand. And then there is a window that gives you a little result.”
The company and Gerchow say this device is affordable, accurate and is saving lives.
“The parents who’ve been impacted is incredible,” says Mohiuddin. “I think we see the problem in the streets like we just sort of you know sidestep it and say those are people who can’t help themselves. But there is a whole other side of this, which is that people are being poisoned inadvertently, they are not intending to do drugs. They are intending to relieve pain, they are intending to enhance concentration and focus.”
“People have a hard time accepting that their child or loved one would do use illicit drugs, but they can understand that maybe there kid is up all night studying for an exam and will take an Adderall from an unknown source and it could contain fentanyl,” says Gerchow.