NEW ORLEANS — The Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Orleans Division announced what officials called historic progress in the fight against fentanyl. They revealed steep reductions in overdose deaths across Louisiana’s Northshore while grieving parents stood at the podium to remind the public that behind every statistic is a life forever changed.
At a press conference with federal, state and local law enforcement partners on Monday, the DEA credited its two-year “trifecta” enforcement model for the decline. Data presented showed overdose deaths fell by 70% in Washington Parish, 58.5% in St. Tammany Parish, and 45.3% in Tangipahoa Parish, far exceeding the national decline of roughly 27%.
But the most powerful moments of the briefing came not from charts or arrest numbers. Instead, they came from parents who have buried their sons…