for The Denver Post: How one Colorado overdose victim fell through the cracks by José A. Alvarado Jr.

Media

for The Denver Post: How one Colorado overdose victim fell through the cracks

josé a. alvarado jr.

Jun 23, 2024

Location: Long Island, New York

Summary

More than 1,600 people died of overdoses in Colorado last year. This is Rachel Skanron’s story.

Even as she lay on a friend’s floor in Wheat Ridge, unconscious from the effects of the drugs she’d taken, Rachel Skanron still had people who believed she could overcome her addictions — if only she could find the right help.

Her father, living on the other side of the international date line, wouldn’t step back and wait for her to hit rock bottom. A former boyfriend in New York had sent her a plane ticket to get her away from the people she used drugs with. And a childhood friend was ready to talk her through any crises, and to fly out to Denver to help if necessary.

They all expected a long road ahead, since Rachel already had spent years cycling through treatment and homelessness. But they remembered the creative, nurturing person they’d known before methamphetamine and fentanyl took over her life, and they wanted her back.

But they’ll never get her back. Rachel died May 3 on that friend’s floor at the age of 34, one of the more than 1,600 people in Colorado lost to drug overdoses in 2023.

Her father, Rick Skanron, knew people could recover from addiction — he’d been there himself. The difference with Rachel, he said, was that her mental health afflictions sapped her of the ability to believe her life could change and the motivation to get better.

“There is nothing available that helps people with mental health issues get to the ‘want’ phase” of seeking recovery, he said.

Photographed for The Denver Post, with words by Meg Wingerter

“I don’t think she was a lost cause”: How one Colorado overdose victim fell through the cracks
The Denver Post is telling Rachel Skanron’s story after extensive interviews with her friends and parents, and a review of medical records shared by her father, to show how people battling addictio…
Denverpost.com

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José A. Alvarado Jr.

More than 1,600 people died of overdoses in Colorado last year. This is Rachel Skanron’s story.

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