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RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A bill that aims to stop opioid addiction before it starts has stalled in Congress for more than a year. A mother who lost her son to a fentanyl overdose says the cost of inaction is growing every day.<\/p>\n

Kerri Rhodes said a tennis injury turned into a fatal addiction for her son Taylor. She said he was first introduced to opioids after getting shoulder surgery at the age of 15. Rhodes, who is also a licensed counselor, said that started a cycle of relapse and recovery that came to an abrupt halt when his friend found him dead at the age of 20. <\/p>\n

\u201cTaylor said, when I took those opioids, my brain felt normal for the first time,\u201d Rhodes said. \u201cI will have to live with it the rest of my life and regret that I took that prescription and I filled it and that I wasn\u2019t educated enough to know what kind of risk I was putting his brain in. I think having options would have made a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n