PORTLAND, Ore. — Instead of math equations on the board, or english books on the shelf, a box of Narcan sits in the corner of a Portland Community College classroom on Saturday. The Royal Rose Foundation welcomed attendees to a Narcan training and handed out the overdose reversal drug for free.
"I carry Narcan in my car like a first aid kit," said MJ Jackson, founder of The Royal Rose Foundation. "It needs to be treated like a lifesaving medication because it is."
Jackson is finishing up her degree at Portland State University and has her eye on law school— but the foundation fills her free time. While fentanyl education and awareness is a passion, her efforts are also driven by grief.
"Every day still feels like the same day I got the call," Jackson said. "It never gets easier — not for me, not for my siblings."
Jackson tearfully recounts the day she lost her mom, Sheres Isom, to fentanyl in 2022.
"My mom was a regular person like you and I — living her day-to-day life, taking care of her children, going to work and all it took was one pill — that was it," Jackson said.
Jackson says her mom was not an addict and believes if Isom knew the dangers, she never would have risked her life.
RELATED: ‘Fentanyl will kill you’: Portland’s new overdose response team sees 90 overdoses in one month
On Saturday, Portland Police officers and a representative from the Drug Enforcement Association (DEA) joined Jackson's training.
"We want to educate, we want to bring prevention and want to bring awareness to the crisis that's going on," said Marcus Pickett, a community outreach specialist from the DEA's Seattle Division.
Pickett said the DEA has become more forward facing during the fentanyl crisis. His position as a community outreach specialist is new to Seattle.
"One pill can kill," Pickett said. "Whereas the other drugs, you might be a user for years or you can abuse it for years."
It was one pill that changed Jackson's life forever. Now, through The Royal Rose Foundation, she's doing everything she can to protect others from the same grief.
"I don't want any other family to go through what my family is going through," she said. "My family will never be the same."