Fentanyl is a significant contributor to the most severe drug crisis the country has ever faced. This potent drug continues to pose a growing threat in Ohio, leaving a trail of devastation in families across the state.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A bright light shines through the Iler home in Broadview Heights.
Rich Iler, deeply moved, reminisces about his daughter with a heavy heart. He recalls her radiant smile that could light up any room, describing her as full of life and energy.
Now, only pictures and memories remain of young Tiffany Iler, the bright, young Buckeye on the Dean’s List at The Ohio State University.
Her dad is still coming to grips with their family’s loss.
“I miss the ‘Daaaaaad,’” he says, with tears in his eyes. “I can hear the voice now. It’s an empty, empty feeling.”
Tragically, Tiffany passed away at the tender age of 21 due to accidental fentanyl poisoning, alongside another young woman. A third friend managed to survive the incident, which took place near Ohio State University in Columbus on May 5, 2022.
“They thought it was Adderall, and it was finals week,” says Rich Iler, as he shares what the family has pieced together with details from investigators and evidence on the girls’ phones. “Apparently, they just got bored and decided that they would open up this bag and they thought they’d be funny and they’d smear it on their faces and that’s what they did. And, they took pictures of each other, so we actually have pictures of this white substance on their faces. And they went down.”
Tiffany died the next day, with her family by her side. They were shocked by the cause of her death.
“I’d never even heard of fentanyl before,” said Iler. “I hadn’t. It’s not the world I live in and not the world she lived in.”
Investigators ruled the case an accident, never determining an origin for the small bag that would change the Iler family forever.
“You want to see your kids get married,” says Iler. “You want to see your kids have kids. You want to experience all those things. They’re all gone. I thought I would walk my daughter down the aisle… not happening.”
The deadly impact of fentanyl, in all of its forms, is part of why it is now the top priority for the Drug Enforcement Administration.
3 News visited the District Office for the DEA in Columbus, where the results of a recent bust were displayed — including fentanyl that is now off the streets.
“Two milligrams could trigger a deadly overdose in a fatal drug poisoning and the loss of life,” said Brian Mulcahy, Assistant Special Agent in Charge at the DEA in Columbus, referring to the amount of fentanyl that could fit as grains of sand on the tip of a pencil.
Mulcahy holds up a small jewelry-sized bag of sugar to demonstrate the wider impact.
“If this were fentanyl, this could represent hundreds of lives lost,” he says about the bag of sugar. “In the last several years, DEA has seized millions of fentanyl pills, as well as thousands of kilograms of fentanyl in powder format. You’re talking about enough fentanyl that could kill entire populations of states.”
According to the DEA’s latest numbers, more than 105,000 Americans died from drug poisoning in 2023, which is the latest year of data. Nearly 70% of those deaths are attributed to synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
“We now know that the majority of the illicit fentanyl trafficked in the United States is actually manufactured in Mexico in clandestine laboratories,” said Mulcahy. “So, the Mexican cartels are obtaining precursor chemicals from China. We’ve seen India now emerge as a source of supply for precursor chemicals. The cartels are buying those chemicals and then they’re manufacturing the fentanyl in Mexico and then distributing it in the United States.”
He says Ohio is uniquely positioned in the crosshairs of this crisis.
“Ohio is strategic, geographically, for the cartels and criminal organizations and a lot of those drug loads do come through Ohio,” Mulcahy said. “The end market is not right here in the Columbus area or Ohio. It’s often trafficked through Ohio’s great network of interstate highways and roads, and it’s often destined for the eastern United States.”
So, the mission continues for the DEA. They want to save lives.
“There’s so much more that needs to be done,” Mulcahy says.
Rich Iler is now part of that fight.
His crusade now involves speaking out to protect other families from this pain — all in honor of Tiffany.
“I feel like she’s helping me do God‘s work and trying to make sure other parents don’t go through what we’ve gone through,” Iler said. “There’s a purpose. I have a purpose besides working and helping clients and whatever. I have a bigger purpose than that.”
For information on fentanyl’s impact in Ohio and across the country, click here for more from the DEA.
