Stephenville Crossing mom says son’s poor judgement caused his death
21-year-old Ty Lucas died in an Alberta hotel room after using cocaine that contained fentanyl
On Sept. 26, when Lisa Lucas opened her front door to two police officers standing in the rain, she had no doubt that they were there about her son.
“I knew by their faces,” the Stephenville Crossing woman said.
As the officers asked if her husband, Brian Lucas, was also there, Lisa just kept asking what happened to her son.
What had happened just hours before on that day three weks ago was that 21-year-old Ty Lucas had died in a hotel room in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., after taking cocaine containing fentanyl.
Lisa, who is the mayor of Stephenville Crossing, has never shied away from talking about Ty’s drug addiction.
“Ty did not die of an overdose. He died from poor judgement,” she wrote in a post on Facebook.
Her son had gone to Alberta a month before his death and was working as a field technician. Lisa said he had been doing well for the past year and had not been taking pills in a few years. He’d even weaned himself off the suboxone he had been prescribed to curb his cravings for opioids.
But Ty was a big marijuana smoker and every couple of months, would use cocaine.
“Cocaine was my son’s weakness,” she said.
Lisa knew when he was using because Ty’s personality and demeanor would be different.
She said her son excelled in math had wanted to be an engineer, but that he started using drugs in high school about the same time he started hanging with some older kids.
“I taught those kids, and I never ever had a fear of him being with them because they were the smart kids,” she said.
Ty was about 16 when Lisa found out about his problem.
She was in her room packing to go to Alberta to be with her daughter, who had gone into premature labour, when Ty came in and told her he was addicted to drugs.
Lisa took him to a doctor in Stephenville, but the appointment resulted in little in the way useful advice; afterward, she found herself in the office’s parking lot crying, wondering what she would do.
“I always told him I’ve got two Tys, one I love and one I f…n’ hate. But I never gave up on him.” Lisa Lucas
She then reached out to a friend who is an addictions counselor and who recommended Ty go to Hope Valley Centre, a treatment facility for youth in Grand Falls-windsor.
Ty agreed to go, but after about three months, and against the advice of those involved in his treatment, he left the centre.
“He came home. Then he was good for a nice while and then. for about I’d say a year after, it was hell,” said Lisa.
Ty started using again. He’d get violent with himself, trash his room, was always asking for money for drugs and to pay his drug debts.
“And then things started disappearing,” she said, referring to Brian’s tools and her jewelry. “It got to the point we had to put a lock on our bedroom door to hide things.”
“If I didn’t give him money to pay off whoever he owed, it would be the guilt,” she added, saying Ty would tell her people were going to come to the house and beat him up.
The situation caused tension in her marriage, and she would give in and give him money.
“And I’d hope that he’d stop stealing.”
Things again came to a head after an incident that saw Lisa call the police. Ty realized he needed help and he returned to Hope Valley, but Lisa said she thinks he was scared of another resident and wanted to leave. So, they brought him home.
By that time, he was 18. She fought with him to finish high school and then get into a heavy equipment program.
“And he was good that year.” His days of using became fewer, she said, although cocaine was still a treat for him.
Lisa said cocaine use is big in the Bay St. George area.
“I see kids on the street now, kids I’ve taught who are totally addicted. It breaks my heart every time I see them because they all had potential. All of them,” she said.
“Cocaine around here now is not a rich man’s drug anymore.”
She said another attraction of cocaine, especially for those who have to undergo drug-testing for work purposes “is because it only stays in your system two days … weed stays for two weeks.”
Lisa spoke to Ty on Facetime the night before he died. He said work was going well and that he was happy; he showed his mother new clothes he had purchased. But Lisa said he had a drug connection in
Alberta and had called that person when he got there.
She has been told that Ty didn’t suffer when he died and that brings her some solace.
“He was funny as hell,” she said. She described him as awesome, as someone who loved his niece and spending time with a young cousin, He was also someone who always apologized for what he’d done and felt guilty about what he put his parents through.
“I always told him I’ve got two Tys, one I love and one I f…n’ hate. But I never gave up on him,” she said while sobbing.
Lisa believes being open about her family’s struggle is helpful for her and hopes it will help others.
For young people, her advice is simple — don’t start using drugs. For parents, it is to keep their kids busy, watch where they’re going and who they spend their time with.
She also believes those who are addicted need more services and feels those workers who undergo drug tests should be able to use marijuana since it is legal. By doing so, she said, they may not get pushed to the more potent drugs.