Empowering Our Youth Against Fentenyl

Joseph Fourre 

Filmaker - Actor - Advocate 

Joe Fourre is the father of Harlan Fourre who died of fentanyl poisoning in The Pas Manitoba on April 2023. He was one of six people who took the ‘tainted drug’ and were affected. A 31-year-old tradesman working with a crew who gathered at a local bar and shared a drug thinking it was ecstasy, but it turned out to be fentanyl.

The grief and trauma of losing a son, has kick-started a campaign to “send a message to our youth”. The opioid crisis is focused on the ‘addicts’ and not the recreational drug users. Our youth are exposed to all types of drugs and are enticed to experiment. In, this situation Harlan had usually responded…’No Thanks, I’m Good’.

The importance of warning our youth to make the right decisions when confronted by the use of drugs. Affecting the ‘supply’ side of the drug business is the strategy and taking the message to our communities is the priority.

(At 31, Harlan worked as a roofer. One evening in April 2023, after completing a job in Pas, Man., a small town near the Saskatchewan border, he joined his crew for drinks. Little did he know, the drug he ingested, thinking it was ecstasy, turned out to be pure fentanyl.

Tragically, Harlan and three others collapsed in the bar. RCMP reported two additional overdoses at the same location later that night.

Harlan suffered a severe brain injury. Ultimately, Fourre had to make the heart-wrenching decision to remove him from life support. "My son was a remarkable individual. He made a single, fatal choice," laments Fourre in the latest episode of Face to Face.

Struggling with his own battles against addiction, Joseph Fourre initiated the "No Thanks, I'm Good" campaign in honour of his son, aiming to ensure that "his death would account for something".)

Source: https://www.aptnnews.ca/facetoface/no-thanks-im-good-joseph-fourre-harlan-fourre-fentanyl-drug-manitoba/