worked to serve of their son matthew. send them our fixer. it doesn t work like that. why don t they just stop. why don t they just stop? don t they know they can stop. you would think they would know what they are doing to their children. but drugs take over the brain. reporter: matthew s brother glen says there s no easy way to recover and money alone won t solve the problem of addiction. addiction isn t something that you can just turn off. for a lot of these people it s not a choice. they are addicted to these drugs, and i think the only way they can get off is through support and love. this is his wallet. he didn t have much. reporter: karen butcher now clings to the few physical reminders of her son matthew. her favorite, a quilt made from all of his favorite shirts. sometimes i would think, okay, i ve got matthew s arms wrapped around me. it includes the last photo
can just turn off. for a lot of people it s not a choice. they are addicted to these drugs and i think the only way they can get off is through support and love. this is his wallet. he didn t have much. reporter: karen butcher now clings to the few physical reminders of her son, matthew. her favorite? a quilt made from all his favorite shirts. sometimes i would think, okay. i have matthew s arms wrapped around me. reporter: it includes the last photo they took together in his most favorite shirt. if the house caught on fire i d probably grab that quilt. i call it my matthew quilt. reporter: matthew davidson one victim of america s opioid epidemic wrapped in the pandemic of covid-19. many thanks to the davidson and butcher families for speaking to us. it is not easy. they do it because they hope it will help other people. if there is any bright spot here, jake, it is that the cdc does have predicted numbers for 2021 of drug overdoses and they are below where they were at t
it was fentanyl. reporter: how much did you use? very little. less than 0.1 gram. and i found out it was straight fentanyl. reporter: that is a tiny that is tinier than tiny. it is like barely a sprinkle of salt i want to welcome everybody tonight. reporter: social interaction important for the addicted, their families, too. jean butcher founded the kentucky chapter of parent of addicted loved ones and over the years they ve had it all as they struggled to free their son matthew from opioids. well, send him somewhere and fix him. or fix her. it doesn t work like that. why don t they just stop? don t they know they can stop? you would think they d know what they re doing to their children. but you see, drugs take over the brain. reporter: matthew s brother glen says there is no easy way to recover and money alone won t solve the problem of addiction. addiction isn t something you