Elisha Garrison received the call from every parent’s worst nightmare on May 11, 2025. Her son Jacob Brodigan was dead, and the cause later was determined to be fentanyl. It was Mother’s Day.
Since Jacob’s death, Garrison connected with the nonprofit “Leona’s Legacy of Love.” The organization raises awareness that fentanyl kills with billboards featuring pictures of young people who have died. Brodigan’s picture is on billboards in Boise, Portland, Chicago, Nashville, Springfield, Green Bay, and set to go up in Las Vegas.
Brodigan was born in Palmer, the first of Garrison’s children. He was raised in the Mat-Su Valley. Eventually, he moved with the family to Idaho, but came up to Glennallen as a young man with dreams of building a cabin near his grandfather. He found work at the Caribou Lodge, and then the Princess Lodge. “He liked to go fishing and camping,” said Garrison, “He loved to read. Everybody at the Glennallen Library knew him.” Garrison remembers her son as “Intelligent, kind-hearted, with a great sense of humor.”
Garrison recalled, “My dad found him deceased. It was very shocking. We were not aware that he was using any substances but we found out he died of fentanyl poisoning.” Garrison’s use of the word “poisoning,” is intentional. “An overdoes implies a large amount of drugs,” she said. When all it takes is few grains of a substance to kill, “I call that a poisoning.”
Garrison created a “Justice for Jacob” campaign, with merch such as t-shirts and hats. I asked Garrison what justice would look like to her. “Brodigan is a victim of drug induced homicide,” she said, “’Justice for Jacob’ means holding someone accountable for Jacob’s poisoning death, saving lives by spreading awareness and preventing other families from [experiencing] this tragedy.”
She said part of justice would be finding the people who brought fentanyl into the community. “They’re distributing a lethal poison,” she said, “And they’re still out in the community. It’s very likely that other people will die.”
Sergeant Jordan Chroniger, who leads the Glennallen state trooper post, discussed local drug investigations, stating, “Drug investigations take considerable time although it may seem like the case isn’t being worked or nothing is being done. Making arrests immediately on shaky probable cause will likely have the case dismissed or the offender convicted of lesser time in jail. We must put together in-depth and thorough investigation on drug offenses to ensure that those that peddle dangerous drugs in Glennallen or anywhere in Alaska face consequences.” Chroniger also noted that both methamphetamine and fentanyl have been seized by law enforcement in the Glennallen area.
“I am trying to bring fentanyl awareness to Glennallen,” Garrison said, “Others have died of fentanyl poisoning in Glennallen. It’s a very real problem.” Garrison also has publicly created a support group on Facebook for other parents and guardians who have lost children.
Garrison is aware there is stigma around drug-associated deaths. One of her social media posts was met with a comment that her son would still be alive if she had called the police. She stated it is important for grieving families to have others to talk to openly about the pain of their loss, without fearing stigma.
In 2024, an estimated 48,000 people died from fentanyl and synthetic opioids, many of them young. It is good news this is a marked decline from an estimated 73,000 deaths per year at the peak of the crisis in the early 2020s. Yet small consolation to families who continue to lose loved ones. The national grief each one of these tens of thousands of losses represents is staggering. One study refers to fentanyl as “the worst man-made epidemic the country has faced to date.”
Garrison wants to see harsher penalties for fentanyl distribution. “I don’t feel like the current laws reflect the seriousness of the crimes,” she said. “We were handed a life sentence of grief.”
Garrison is seeking sponsor’s for “Jacob’s Law,” which would mandate harsher sentences for fentanyl distribution, and has collected over 500 signatures on a petition. I asked how this compared with severe mandatory minimum penalties for crack-related drug offenses created in the 1980s, which later studies showed did not reduce drug use.
Garrison stated the purpose, in part, is “to increase the punishment” for dealers, and also referred to the extreme toxicity of fentanyl. “Crack cocaine is one thing but a deadly poison that takes a few grains of salt to kill someone is another,” she said.
Garrison, and other relatives of young people who have died, have held fentanyl awareness rallies and vigils to remember their children and raise awareness for other families. They distribute Narcan and warn of the dangers of imitation drugs, such as vape pens or fake Xanax, that are laced with fentanyl. Garrison believes everyone should carry Narcan.
“There’s a lot of children that are dying that are 14, or 16, as young as 10 or 12. They are getting a vape pen from someone at school and dying,” said Garrison.
I asked Sergeant Chroniger whether he has found any vape pens or fake pills containing fentanyl in the Copper Basin. He said he did see fentanyl-containing fake pills when he worked in Fairbanks. He stated he has not personally seen them in Glennallen, but would not be surprised if fake pills, vape pens, or other such items were found here.
Garrison is also concerned about the risk of accidental exposure in very young children. A letter published by the New England Journal of Medicine looked at reported cases of accidental fentanyl exposure in children under six years old, finding a hundred-fold increase from just five in 2013 to 539 in 2023 in one database. Most had severe effects, and 51 passed away. Authors Drs. Courtney Temple and Robert G. Hendrickson stated there are likely to be more cases than the ones reported in the single database they analyzed.
Most of these children were exposed in the home by accidental ingestion. Even touching contaminated surfaces and putting their hands in their mouth could put small children at risk.
Garrison hopes to hold a rally and vigil in Glennallen.
Free Narcan and training can be obtained through the website iknowmine.org
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