The Lion's Roundtable (Guest: Angela Shockley)
Download MP3Good day. This is Amber Narro on KSLUs 90 point 9 FM, the Lion. I am here at the roundtable, an actual roundtable today with my friend Angela Shockley, and she's gonna tell us about Moe's Movement. A couple of weeks ago or maybe even just a week ago, y'all haven't it hasn't been that long since you've been here. People might have noticed a few several chairs covered with purple ribbons, And that is part of the MOES Movement and Angela's mission in this life to get word out about the dangers of overdose and what students and young people might not know that may harm them.
Dr. Amber Narro:So welcome, I'm so glad to have you Angela.
Angela Shockley:Thank you, glad to be here.
Dr. Amber Narro:Good, good. Now I've actually interviewed Angela before on North Shore Broadcasting when I was there with getting things done. I wanted you to come back to campus because I saw those chairs there the other day and I said, you know what? We have to make sure that this message is loud and clear for students on Southeastern's campus because they were around the age that your daughter was when things went wrong. Can you tell us about that?
Angela Shockley:Right. Well, I network with people all over the nation and one of the population that we have the most concern and the most trouble reaching is the college age. So I have been thinking about what could I do that could reach college age students. So I thought about doing the empty chair project and so I got together with the Collegiate Recovery Program here on campus. That's with Annette Baldwin?
Angela Shockley:Annette Baldwin, correct. Also I did the same thing at LSU about a month ago. So I met with them and so she said, well can you bring the empty chair project here? So the empty chair project I brought to Louisiana after my daughter Morgan passed away. And, what it is, is it is the number or how I do it.
Angela Shockley:The number of chairs, there are a certain number of chairs out there and those numbers represent the number of overdose deaths in the parish to date.
Dr. Amber Narro:So those are just in this parish.
Angela Shockley:That was last week just in this parish, right? And that was from January until last week. Those are confirmed, and I think there were twenty four chairs. What is important is that last year at this time, I did the same project in AMEED at the courthouse and that number was thirty nine, I believe. It has gone down.
Dr. Amber Narro:What's Has gone down. Now messaging is working then. Yeah.
Angela Shockley:I think it's a number of things. It's not enough, yeah, we want
Dr. Amber Narro:to get to zero. No,
Angela Shockley:And it has gone down, that's nationwide, and then the surrounding parishes, it's gone down as well. And I think there's several factors, you know, as to why that is.
Dr. Amber Narro:All right, so we'll talk about those factors in just a second. But first of all, tell me your story. How did you get involved in spreading this message?
Angela Shockley:Well, my daughter Morgan was a heroin addict and at the age of 22, became a heroin addict. She started off in college smoking pot and so that gateway from one drug to the next to the next. And then it went into her. She did not wake up one morning and say I want to go shoot her. Want to go shoot No, no, You know I was
Dr. Amber Narro:thinking about that this morning. I'm glad you said that. So on the way here this morning, was thinking about talking to you again and it really, you know, I reached out to you because I saw the empty chair project and I had spoken to you before and I too think this is a very important message for our young people. But nobody starts and says, Gee, I think I'd like to get addicted and ruin my life and or take my life into my own hands. Exactly.
Dr. Amber Narro:You start with the thought of maybe I just want to take the edge off or maybe I just want to have a little fun or I want to see what that feels like. And then all of a sudden a little becomes a little more and then a lot and then your body can't handle it because you abuse your body so badly that it puts you into this risk. Right,
Angela Shockley:right. And the first rehab that Morgan went into, she went into 17 inpatient treatment centers. First one she's inpatient. And during that ten years that she was in addiction. But the first one I'll never forget, the doctor of addiction told me, he said, and at that time Louisiana was beginning to start to legalize medicinal marijuana.
Angela Shockley:And so anyway, he said, I've never met a heroin addict that didn't say the first drug they ever did was pot. He said, every one of them will tell you it was pot. And so that is the gateway. And a lot of people think, you know, I mean, I kind of was under the same impression before I was educated, you know, I mean, it's pot. You know, what's the harm of somebody that smokes some pot or something?
Angela Shockley:But it is a gateway. It is the gateway. It is the gateway truck. And as I've said many times before, you have a choice whether to put the first substance or the first drop of alcohol in your body. What you don't have a choice is how your brain is going to react to it.
Angela Shockley:So I could take a sip of alcohol and I'm not going to react the same way an alcoholic's brain will or an addict's brain will. So that's why it's so important for people to understand when you're taking this substance, not only street, so you don't know what's in it. Mhmm. Number one. You don't know what's in it, but number two, you don't know how you're gonna react to it.
Dr. Amber Narro:Right. Right.
Angela Shockley:Which could change your life. You know, right now, I read this week, where Tanger Bahoe Parish Sheriff's Department has put out an emergency news about all on the North Shore, New Orleans and the North Shore, there's something new called green fentanyl and it has put a surge in overdose deaths. And so they found it and it's in pot. It's in other drugs that are presented as not so potent as fentanyl or things like that. So it's mixed in it.
Angela Shockley:It's a green. They say it comes in different types of form like gel powder. And, they found this while they were investigating something else that was a mixture. I mean, you may think you're getting something and you have no idea what you're getting. It can be stamped, look just like a prescription.
Angela Shockley:And I mean, unless you get it from a doctor, you have no way of knowing what you're getting, even with pot.
Dr. Amber Narro:Unbelievable. Well, I've got I've I've I've got my a, friend Bridget who is with track. I'm definitely you need to reach out to her and get her on the show very soon because she does a lot of work, Bridget Bailey, in that area of, you know, understanding what's out there, what the Tangepo Parish Sheriff's Department is finding right now. So I'm going need to bring her in and get a little bit more information on this for sure. Morgan went to 17 treatment centers.
Dr. Amber Narro:She obviously passed away from an overdose.
Angela Shockley:That's correct. Fentanyl.
Dr. Amber Narro:Tell me what happened. She actually was doing well for a while. If I'm remembering the story correctly. That's correct. Then just had a relapse because her brain is one of these that are wired for the addiction.
Angela Shockley:Right, right. I did a podcast not long ago with Built by the Red Stick and I told them that I could see Morgan relapse. She relapsed mentally before she ever put the first Drug in her body, so you could see it coming on. Mean, mentally she would relapse, which is common. What does that mean?
Angela Shockley:In other words, you could just tell in her behavior and her demeanor and her attitude. Maybe just on edge, could just see it. I could see it. I mean, I knew. Then she would end up actually relapsing.
Angela Shockley:That was before she ever would put the first drug in. But anyway, so she had had a little girl in 2020. So she had been sober most of that time between 2020 and 2023. She did have a few relapses. During that time, they were short lived, weak or so, which before she had her daughter, would be months.
Angela Shockley:She would go out for months. And so I guess she had relapsed about five days prior to her death. And she was to go in treatment on Tuesday. Where she was going to go that time, they only did intake on Tuesdays. So her dad and I found her on a Tuesday after no one had heard from her since Sunday night.
Angela Shockley:So she had been gone thirty plus hours when we found her. Yeah. In her shop. She had a little shop in Summit, Mississippi, a little vintage shop there, and that's where she passed away at. So she's got a little girl.
Angela Shockley:She's got a little girl that's five.
Dr. Amber Narro:And she's with you?
Angela Shockley:She's with me.
Dr. Amber Narro:Good. And she's doing okay?
Angela Shockley:Yeah. She's doing fine. She's in school. She's been in soccer, gym. Good.
Dr. Amber Narro:Good. Yeah. So she's running she's running you ragged. She's running
Angela Shockley:me ragged. I'm tired. I gotcha. I gotcha.
Dr. Amber Narro:It's different when you when it's when you're young, know?
Angela Shockley:Yeah. Praising
Dr. Amber Narro:children is for the young.
Angela Shockley:Right. Right. I watched
Dr. Amber Narro:my grandbaby over the weekend too. Yeah.
Angela Shockley:Yeah. Wear you out.
Dr. Amber Narro:I'm feeling Come Sunday too. You have got your baby every day now.
Angela Shockley:Every day. 60 four, am 64. But she is a blessing and so that is the only way we can look at it. We do have a piece of morgue. Yes,
Dr. Amber Narro:Now, when you're talking to groups of students or groups of young people and they tell you, I'm not going to ever touch that. You know, I've just got, you know, I just smoke cigarettes or vape or, you know, whatever it is. What do you what is your message to them as far as when if they can start seeing themselves exhibit signs of maybe addiction of some sort, where can they stop themselves?
Angela Shockley:Yeah, well really with addiction, addiction is more powerful than you. It's more powerful than Morgan's child. Addiction, because some people think, like I said, I was very ignorant to addiction initially and I thought I would do anything for my kids. Stop anything. Would do anything.
Angela Shockley:There you go. And I was just kind of like yeah, why can't and Morgan didn't have a child at the time. But anyway, but that just shows you how powerful it is. You can't stop for your own child. It is more powerful than you.
Angela Shockley:It is cunning. It is baffling and you will justify it to the end because that is how the reward system of your brain, an addict's brain works. And so you think you have to have it for survival. It is survival. When you're in the mix of addiction, it is survival.
Angela Shockley:The Empty Share Project comes to Southeastern. And are you with that project to answer questions while it's here? Tell me what that looks like when
Dr. Amber Narro:you take it to different universities.
Angela Shockley:Yeah, yes, we are here and I have some ladies that I go to grief group with and their children have also passed of drug overdose. And so they usually come with me. And so anyway, we are, we set up, we give out little information, little trinkets, bracelets, different things like that. And the one at Southeastern last week, here at Southeastern last week, Annette had several vendors here giving out Norcan. I think they gave out 40 boxes of Norcan.
Angela Shockley:I have some in my office. Gave out around 40 of those. Department of Health and Hospitals gave it out. And then also what was here was Jenny from Long Branch Recovery who I had been networking with, and she was here and that is a treatment center here on the North Shore. And so she was here, which is important because it is a place where somebody, you know, a very good facility.
Angela Shockley:And also the counseling center was here. So there were other vendors and it may have been one other that was here that could answer any questions and all. But it's amazing the people that walk up to you and say, you know, I need this person or I need that person or, you know, I need I need Morgan, you know, that will walk up to you. And so it was just a really, really. I was very pleased.
Angela Shockley:It was just a really good day and we had a lot of people that stopped and looked in addition to the chairs. I don't know. I probably had 40 posters as well, And those posters were pictures of people that their family gave permission for me to put their poster out. And so it gave their year of death, date of, year of birth, year of death, and then their age on it and their picture. And so those pictures, you know, they say a lot just to look at them and look at the faces on them.
Angela Shockley:I mean, you know, some of them are college graduates, you know, they're just, you know, some of them were very young, 19, you know.
Dr. Amber Narro:Let's talk about this fentanyl situation because, Morgan passed away from fentanyl overdose and you don't have to be an addict to pass away from a fentanyl overdose. This can be a first time use situation. And
Angela Shockley:that's what the college age has to remember and really we all, I mean, anyone, but that you can take a drug to go out and party one night. And I just got through reading this before I came. They're mixing it with ecstasy. This pink is powder, that's what they were investigating when they discovered the green fentanyl. Is mixed with ecstasy.
Dr. Amber Narro:I was talking about this pink thing the last time
Angela Shockley:Pink you were powder, with right. So that is mixed with several drugs. You, in fact, they were they were putting it off as cocaine. So you may think, I'm just gonna do some coke tonight to party tonight. And you don't have to be an addict.
Angela Shockley:You're just gonna do something. We're gonna party tonight and they're not waking up. Because the fentanyl is just like two grams of salt, like two grains of salt, two grains of salt, not grams, two grains of salt can kill someone. So I mean with it, it's just it's just real real scary. And so I think one thing that has brought the deaths down though is the awareness and all because fentanyl is talked about so vitally now, know.
Dr. Amber Narro:And that's why you're here. Right. Because if it's just one more person, you know, we need to get 34 or 39 down to 24. We need to get it to zero. Right.
Dr. Amber Narro:We don't want 12. We want zero.
Angela Shockley:Exactly. Exactly. And so another thing that I did near campus here is I was able to get a digital sign on university. I wanted it as you were coming into the campus or out of the campus one from Wardline, the exit of Wardline. So we were able to obtain that and get that up and it'll be up to the end of the year.
Angela Shockley:And it has Morgan's picture on it, know, and it just says, you know, fentanyl can kill. Ask my mom. One pill, one line, one shot. And so I want it near campus where it could be seen.
Dr. Amber Narro:Indeed. And I'd also wanna encourage everyone to really do some research on Narcan. Yes. Yes. This is not you know, obviously, this is nobody does this and also thinks Narcan's right there so I'm going go ahead and do it and then everybody will be okay and just watch me and blah blah blah.
Dr. Amber Narro:Nobody says that, right? But the thing that you need to have this for is that accidental situation where you may be able to save somebody's life. It is very inexpensive. It's also given away free at many places.
Angela Shockley:Most places. We do here
Dr. Amber Narro:on campus a lot. It's very easy to use, but also can save a life and give a person their life back and hopefully give them another chance to make good decisions.
Angela Shockley:Another shot, right. Has saved a lot of lives. Sometimes it will take three different shots of Norcan to bring someone back. And if it's not an opiate, you haven't hurt them by giving it to them. I've had people say, well what they didn't overdose on an opiate or whatever.
Angela Shockley:Well it doesn't matter, it's not going to hurt.
Dr. Amber Narro:So
Angela Shockley:let's just say if it was a methamphetamine overdose or whatever.
Dr. Amber Narro:That's why they give it away. Right, Exactly, it's not going
Angela Shockley:to hurt you. And it has been a lifesaver, let me put it that way, in many respects. Because when we were, I don't know, somewhere '22, I mean the overdose deaths were astronomical. I I can't remember what they were in this parish, but they were it was just, like, three or four times probably higher. And I'm talking about statewide Mhmm.
Angela Shockley:Than what and and one of those, like I said, is due or we're talking about is due to the Narcan.
Dr. Amber Narro:Very good.
Angela Shockley:And then your firemen carry it, know, your policeman carry it. You have it in your office. So, you know, five years ago, we didn't know what Narcan was.
Dr. Amber Narro:But now we're very grateful to
Angela Shockley:have it. I have it in all my cars. Then I had someone ask me, will I get in trouble if I have this in my vehicle? And I said, no, it's not a prescription drug and it's definitely not a mind altering drug. Going
Dr. Amber Narro:through the end of the year, having this billboard up is very important because obviously holidays are coming up and that is definitely a time where people do things or make decisions that they may normally not because they're going through all sorts of emotions possibly. They're also going to different events and parties and things like that. This is definitely a time where addiction is a concern and it heightens people's, I guess their vulnerability to it. Sorry. But, they get, yes, but they get, things things start happening around this time of the year.
Dr. Amber Narro:So I'm glad that y'all have that billboard up through the end of the year. Talk to our students and and tell us, you know, from your from your heart, from your your mom's heart, you wish you would have known earlier and what you wish you would have told Morgan before things started.
Angela Shockley:Right. Well, we never, mean, it was just like Morgan, don't do drugs. We didn't do drugs at our house. We didn't do drugs. I was just really, really ignorant to it.
Angela Shockley:And unless you probably have someone in addiction, and then I see so many people, I meet so many people that have had someone in addiction for years and they don't know. They still don't know. I would tell any family member this and I'll come back to that. If you have a child, no matter how old they are or whatever, and you think that they have a problem whether it's alcohol or any substance abuse, you know, find out what you can about it so you can help them because a lot of the things that we did initially actually were helping Morgan die and we did know it.
Dr. Amber Narro:Because you
Angela Shockley:know idea. Right, you're desperate. Right, I mean I can remember thinking when she went into treatment the first time, I can remember thinking, okay this is one and done. She'll go in, she'll get out, and it'll all be done. Right.
Angela Shockley:That's how dumb I was or ignorant I was to the disease of addiction. But the best thing that you can do is not take anything that's from anyone off, so to speak, off the streets. If your doctor didn't prescribe it, do not And take it as a take doctor prescribes it as well. Read the directions. Right, exactly.
Angela Shockley:But the street drugs is where unless you do an accidental overdose by taking a medication with your name on it, the street drugs is where the problem is. And you have to keep in mind it can be in pot. It is in pot. It's not it can't be. It is.
Angela Shockley:And I'm not saying it's in every, you know, it's in all of it, but the pot they have today is not the same pot they had when I was young. It's a whole another ball game. Know, mean, didn't do it, but I'm just saying it's different. It's killing people. So, that's, you know, that's, I mean, you just have to be responsible and think if I do this, then I'm playing Russian roulette and is it worth my life?
Angela Shockley:And you don't want your mother tonight sitting in You this don't want your mother. I can promise you sitting in this chair. Morgan would have been 34 Friday. She would be 34 this Friday. The month of October when it comes up, anyone that's lost a child can tell you.
Angela Shockley:There's certain milestones that come and you just kind of stress the whole time, you know? And then once it gets here, it's just kinda like, it's, you know, her birthday's gone. Thank god. You know? So, anyway, she would have been 34, three years without her, without her here on Earth for her birthday.
Angela Shockley:And I can promise you that no mother is as the billboard says on university, know, you wanna know if fentanyl kills? Just ask my mom. So it's the most heartbreaking thing that I've ever gone through.
Dr. Amber Narro:And nothing that you could have done would
Angela Shockley:have stopped it? Nothing I could have But there
Dr. Amber Narro:is something that Morgan could have done to stop it because she didn't know she had that brain.
Angela Shockley:She did not know initially that she did. I look back now and I even think about the time she had her wisdom teeth cut out and she was probably a teenager at the time and you know they give you medicine and she reacted differently than I did, let's just say. So her brain just did not respond to substances the way a normal brain does. So she had the brain of an addict. You have to understand the reward system in the frontal cortex and all that to understand it's complicated.
Angela Shockley:But once you do, it makes perfect sense. And we don't know we have that until we take that first, like I said, that first substance.
Dr. Amber Narro:Yeah. I'm not playing with that. I am not playing with that. I love my children too much. I love my I love this world too much.
Dr. Amber Narro:And, hopefully, all the people that we're talking to today just love themselves and their mommas enough that they don't wanna make these decisions either. So as we're closing out, I promise to get back to this. What are some of the reasons that you think that those numbers are going down? And let's hold on to some hope as we're going out here today.
Angela Shockley:One of the reasons we've talked about was Norcan. The other reason we talked about was, prevention and awareness. The third reason are and not in those orders in that order or in this particular order. The other reason I think is because we now are seeing such a strong penalty for those that are distributing fentanyl. Mean, you're going to jail for twenty years plus if you're distributing fentanyl and also the Holt Act that President Trump passed.
Angela Shockley:I mean, so all these things is stricter. If you give someone any substance, and this very important for college age to understand this, if you deliver a substance, you don't have to sell it, just give it to them. And that person dies of fentanyl. You can be charged with second degree homicide in the state of Louisiana. So
Dr. Amber Narro:Say that again.
Angela Shockley:Okay. Say that again. Yeah. If you deliver, not just sale, deliver, give it to them, anything that has fentanyl in it, it can be pot, it does not matter, a vape, it does not matter. And you may not even know that it has fentanyl in it, but you give it to them and they die because of that delivery, then you can be charged with second degree homicide in the state of Louisiana.
Angela Shockley:And that's the entire state. Really and truly, it's not just fentanyl. The fentanyl carries a harsher penalty, but that is any drug. So let's just say you gave them cocaine and they die of cocaine, an overdose of cocaine, then you can be charged with second degree murder. So here in the state of Louisiana, have a drug induced homicide law.
Angela Shockley:Some states like Mississippi have fentanyl only. Now fentanyl carries a harsher penalty than other illicit drugs here in the state. But that's any illicit drug. So you'd be very mindful if you give someone something because right now in Tanspeho Parish, Livingston Parish, we have people right now charged with second degree murder, know, going to trial for that. So that's another thing.
Angela Shockley:And that's what I tell the high school, you know, because the vapes the big issue there. And I tell them the same thing, you know.
Dr. Amber Narro:Very good. Very good. Thank you so much. I appreciate you coming by and sharing with us all of this wonderful information. And, you know, obviously, we all we all cry with you for Morgan.
Dr. Amber Narro:For sure. Every mother on the planet cries with you. You know, thank you for bringing this message to all of our students because even if even if we just help one person make a better decision, I think that's a that's a job well done today. Right. Keep talking, keep talking.
Dr. Amber Narro:We'll have you back for
Angela Shockley:Thank you, appreciate it.
Dr. Amber Narro:Thank you for joining us. I've been here talking with Angela Shockley. She is the leader and the voice behind Moe's Movement, a fentanyl overdose messaging system that is really getting the word out and sharing an awesome message in this area. We are the the numbers are going down, but we gotta keep going because it's still out there. So we've gotta make sure that we all do our part in making sure that we we get the number down to zero.
Dr. Amber Narro:So thank you for listening here on KSLU's 90 point 9 FM, the lion. We've been at The Lion's Roundtable. I'm Amber Narro with Angela Shockley. Y'all have a great day.
