Les McColgin, a Galveston County man, is using a billboard and a unique vending machine to try and tackle a fentanyl crisis. Les McColgin, who started Gulf Coast Outreach Services, in order to reach other parents, neighbors, and students. "Most people don't have an idea of how bad this is," McColgin said. His goal is to combat the fentanyl crisis, which is a problem he can also relate to because he's overdosed three times himself. I was never scared of any drugs," McColgin recalled. "Never. The stronger the better."

A Galveston County man is using a billboard and a unique vending machine to try and tackle the fentanyl crisis.

The Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office told ABC13, in 2021 and in the first 11 months of 2022, 138 people died from drug overdose. Fifty-six percent of those are link to fentanyl. It's a crisis that's led groups to make posters showing the faces of those who've died from the drug, as their smiling photos hide the pain their loved ones can't let go.

"The reality that something so small can take something so big, and the reality that there's such evil to do this," Janice Stahl, who lost her son to fentanyl, said.

The grieving mothers turned to Les McColgin, who started Gulf Coast Outreach Services, in order to reach other parents, neighbors, and students.

"Most people don't have an idea of how bad this is," McColgin said.