Max’s Law: How One New Jersey Mother Turned Tragedy into Lifesaving Policy
Patrice Lenowitz stands next to Senator Holly Schepisi on the floor of the New Jersey Senate as final votes are cast on Max’s Law, January 12, 2026.
Like countless families across the country, Lenowitz had no idea how profoundly the nation’s drug landscape had changed. She did not know counterfeit pills were flooding communities and deliberately targeting young people. She did not know those pills were manufactured to look identical to legitimate prescription medications such as Adderall, Xanax, Percocet, and OxyContin. She did not know that a single pill could be fatal.
By the time her family learned the truth, it was too late.
Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 45, with illicit fentanyl as the primary driver. Increasingly, these deaths are not the result of intentional opioid use but of deception. Illicit fentanyl, xylazine, and other emerging synthetic substances are smuggled into the United States and mixed into counterfeit pills and street drugs, often without the user’s knowledge.
In today’s drug supply, youth experimentation has become a lethal coin toss: heads, you get high; tails, you die. The only way to win is to abstain from playing—but refusal requires knowledge and information, and too many young people are navigating this deadly reality uninformed.
In the aftermath of her son’s death, Lenowitz refused to remain silent. She transformed her grief into action, determined to protect other children from the invisible threat that took Max’s life. Her advocacy is grounded in a clear and urgent belief that prevention must occur before experimentation begins.
Lenowitz argues that the most effective way to outsmart drug traffickers is through education rooted in truth. Young people must understand that one pill, one sniff, one experimentation can lead to instant death or lifelong addiction. This is not fearmongering. It is the reality of a drug supply engineered for extreme potency and profit.
Synthetic opioids are designed to hijack brain chemistry rapidly, suppress natural survival instincts, and create dependency. Young people are especially targeted due to vulnerability created by curiosity, peer pressure, and mental health challenges. With substances this lethal and accessible, waiting until after experimentation costs lives.
In honor of her son, Lenowitz authored Senate Joint Resolution 128, designating July 14 as Fentanyl Poisoning Awareness Day in New Jersey. The resolution calls on students, educators, municipalities, and elected officials statewide to acknowledge the date, organize awareness initiatives, and honor lives lost to fentanyl poisoning.
She also co-authored the Illicit Opioid Supply Substances Poisoning Awareness Act, also known as Max’s Law, a bipartisan measure requiring age appropriate, medically accurate education on fentanyl and xylazine poisoning prevention for students in grades 6 through 12.
Max’s Law adopts a public health approach focused on primary prevention. It requires schools to educate students on the dangers of counterfeit pills, how accidental poisonings occur, the signs of overdose, and appropriate response actions. The law equips schools, families, and communities the ability to intervene before tragedy strikes.
“The way we’ve been talking to our kids about drugs no longer reflects their reality,” said Lenowitz. “Every life lost is a child’s future erased, and a family’s rewritten in agony. Primary prevention education is how we fight back—and how we win—by keeping our children informed, safe, and alive.”
On January 17, 2026, Governor Phil Murphy signed Max’s Law into law.
While the legislation applies to New Jersey, Lenowitz hopes its framework will inspire action nationwide. She urges other states to treat fentanyl poisoning as the public health emergency it is and to act with urgency equal to the threat.
To learn more and begin the conversation at home, click here.
Cassandra Rosado
Rosado Productions
Cassandra.rosado@proton.me
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