Parent Action Network · A program of FDPS and SAM

You are not alone. And your story can change the law.

The Parent Action Network is a community of families whose lives have been upended by drugs: fentanyl, today’s high-potency marijuana, kratom and the other “gas station” opioids, psychedelics sold as medicine. We help you find your footing, your voice, and the people who need to hear it.

Join the networkHear the storiesFamily resources
Parent Action Network parents and families gathered in Washington, D.C., with the U.S. Capitol behind them
Parent Action NetworkEducate · Empower · Engage
2 mgof fentanyl, about 10 to 15 grains of salt, can be a lethal dose. It is now pressed into counterfeit pills that look like the real thing.FDPS Fentanyl Crisis page
5,208overdose deaths involving kratom in the United States from 2020 to 2024. It is still sold next to the candy.CDC SUDORS
19.2MAmericans with cannabis use disorder in 2023, up from 14.2 million in 2020.NSDUH, via SAM Impact Report
35episodes of Fortitude, PAN’s podcast of parents telling their stories in their own words.Apple Podcasts

Why PAN exists

The drugs have changed. The marketing has changed. The families in this network know it firsthand, and they are done being quiet about it.

The problem

A drug landscape no parent was prepared for

Counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl. Marijuana engineered to 90-plus percent THC and sold as wellness. Kratom, 7-OH and tianeptine in gas stations, labeled “natural.” Psychedelics pitched as a cure. Each one is sold as safe, and each one has put families in this network through addiction, psychosis, and loss.

Decision-makers rarely hear from those families. The industries make sure they hear from lobbyists instead.

The answer

Educate. Empower. Engage.

PAN is the grassroots initiative of the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions and Smart Approaches to Marijuana. We arm parents with science-based facts, train them to tell their stories effectively, and put them in front of the people who write the laws, from city councils to Congress.

We are a diverse group of parents and family members with one goal: make sure no one else endures what we have.

How it works

From first contact to the committee room, in four steps.

Reach out

Take the short interest survey or email pan@learnaboutsam.org. A PAN staff member follows up personally.

Get the facts

One-pagers and briefings on fentanyl, kratom, high-potency THC, psychedelics, decriminalization, and what actually works.

Train to tell it

Coaching on testimony, letters to the editor, legislator visits, and media, plus webinars with experts on the issues you care about.

Act together

Parents on the Hill, state hearings, rapid-response alerts when a vote is imminent, and a community that shows up for each other.

PAN 2027 Training Conference and Hill Day
Next gathering

PAN 2027 Training Conference and Hill Day

February 2 to 3, 2027, Washington, D.C. Two days of training, then a day of meetings on Capitol Hill with parents from across the country.

Details and registration
Reach us directly

Talk to a person, not a form

Email pan@learnaboutsam.org and a PAN staff member will get back to you. If you are in crisis or worried about someone’s safety right now, call or text 988.

Email PANInterest survey

The stories

Parents in their own words: loss, addiction, recovery, and what they are doing about it.

Fortitude: Turning Tragedy into Action podcast cover
PAN’s podcast

Fortitude: Turning Tragedy into Action

Each episode is one family’s story, told to educate and to mobilize. Thirty-five episodes, including a South Dakota mother whose daughter’s path ran from marijuana to fentanyl.

Apple PodcastsSpotifyAmazon MusicAll episodes

“We are a diverse group of parents and family members with one goal in common: to make sure no one else endures the devastating experiences these families have.”

The Parent Action Network
Newsletter feature

Finding Purpose in Recovery

Jordan Davidson on what recovery looked like from the inside, and what it asks of the people around you.

Read
Newsletter feature

The Roadmap to Recovery

Guidance for families on treatment, relapse, and the long road back, from the September 2023 newsletter.

Read
Webinar

The Link Between Marijuana Use and Opioid and Other Drug Use

Why the drugs are connected, and what that means for prevention at home.

WatchAll webinars

Join the network

Email and text updates, the monthly newsletter, and alerts when your voice is needed.

Family resources

The documents PAN families use most, grouped by what you need to do.

Understand the drugs
Make the case
Take action

Webinars and newsletters

Everything PAN has recorded and published, in one place.

Past webinars
Past newsletters

The people you’ll talk to

Crissy Groenewegen

Crissy Groenewegen

Parent Action Network Director. Former executive director of a substance use prevention agency in Dutchess County, NY, and a specialist in building grassroots coalitions.

Bronwen Skinner

Bronwen Skinner

Project Coordinator. A “mom with a story” who brings the perspective of a parent who fought to find treatment for cannabis use disorder.

Ready to put your story to work? Join the Parent Action Network. Want to support the families doing this? Make a gift to PAN.

Our family of organizations
Smart Approaches to Marijuana logo
Smart Approaches to MarijuanaThe leading voice on marijuana policy and science: THC potency, the hemp loophole, and Big Marijuana.Visit SAM →
Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions logo
Foundation for Drug Policy SolutionsEvidence-based solutions for fentanyl, kratom and 7-OH, psychedelics and every other drug.You are here
The Drug Report logo
The Drug ReportDaily reporting on marijuana, kratom, fentanyl, psychedelics and the industries behind them, from the SAM and FDPS newsroom.Read the news →