"Karl's last ride"

Jeannette's has completed her biggest ride ever. She began this year's route in Amarillo, Texas, where her brother, Karl Krupp IV, died in 2021 from fentanyl. He was on a Greyhound bus at the time of his poisoning; the 38-year-year-old was headed home to Missouri to see his family but never made it. Jeannette continued his journey by bicycle in her brother’s honor and in the memory of all the other people lost too soon to this epidemic.

WHY THIS ISSUE MATTERS

More than 100,000 people died from a drug-related overdose in the United States in 2022. That’s like filling Busch Stadium and the Fox Theater to their maximum capacity TWICE, and this number doesn’t even include deaths from alcohol. Despite continued lawsuits against and settlements with drug companies, overdose deaths are still on the rise, with opioid-involved fatalities increasing over 60 percent, from 49,860 in 2019 to 81,806 in 2022.

WHAT WE CAN DO

Solving this issue IS possible. Some cities are equipping public spaces and even restaurants with Narcan, an antidote to overdose, and teaching civilians how to use it to save lives. These efforts show promise and could be expanded to other spaces like transportation. If Narcan, now widely recognized as an essential life-saving tool akin to a first-aid kit or a fire extinguisher, had been present on the bus Karl was riding, he may still be alive today.