About STL Heroin Help

My name is Marilyn Smashey, I was born and raised in rural St. Charles County, Missouri. I am the mother of four children. On December 5, 2009 I lost my only son Taylor Wade Green at the age of 18 to heroin. It was then, that I made a promise to Taylor that his death would not be in vain. I have since made a commitment to dedicate my life towards education, prevention and awareness against this alarming heroin epidemic. As well as partnering with individuals and other agencies in the mid western region for this common cause.

From the time of Taylor’s death until July of 2011 I stayed focused on the investigation. I found myself unable to move forward; I wanted Taylor’s life and death to have a positive effect on everyone. On July of 2011, I went to my first rally with a handful of people in front of the Civil Courts Building in St. Louis; there were several rallies set up in counties throughout Missouri. The NCADA put together several town hall meetings where I was able to share Taylor’s story. It then gave me the opportunity to share Taylor’s story through media broadcast and newspaper articles.

On October 8th, 2011 several of our group put together a vigil under the Arch where over 400 people came to honor the memory of loved ones lost to heroin. I wanted to continue to raise awareness and educate our youth. St. Charles West High School wanted to do an awareness program with members of the high school staff, St. Charles drug enforcement and Pam and Terry Jones, who lost their son Andrew to heroin. Additionally, Several of our community leaders in St. Charles were in attendance along with 700 students. I’ve also taken the time to meet with and talk to several State Representatives along with the prosecuting attorney and victims rights advocate about our laws, rehabilitation programs and the necessity of drug aawareness programs in our schools.