Clifton's voice: Aiken couple shares what it's like to lose a son to drug addiction

Aug. 18—Editor's note: Monday is National Fentanyl Awareness and Prevention Day. To illustrate the dangers of fentanyl, the Aiken Standard is sharing the story of an Aiken County resident who died from a fentanyl overdose in 2020.

For Aiken resident Crystal Kraft, the call every mother dreads came shortly after 10 a.m. July 14, 2020.

Her mother, Dianna Doughty Cain, had found Kraft's son, Clifton Ricky Bates, 24, unresponsive in the garage of her home in the Merriwether area of Edgefield County.

Crystal said she told her mother to call 911 and check if Clifton was breathing. Crystal's next move was to call her husband and Clifton's stepfather, Scott.

Crystal and Scott both left work immediately and began high-tailing it to Meriwether.

Crystal, who worked at a cemetery near New Ellenton, said she would pull up to red lights and, if no one was coming, go through. She said her thought was if a police officer stopped her, he was going to take her to her son.

Scott ran through the plant and broke the speed limit on every road between the Cains' home and the Bridgestone passenger tire plant where he worked.

"I wasn't stopping," Scott said.

The Bridgestone plant is six miles away so Scott arrived first.

But, he was too late.

The Krafts would soon learn Clifton received a lethal dose of fentanyl and died after 6 a.m. that morning.

Fentanyl is a manmade opioid up to 50 times stronger than morphine, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency.

It was developed to manage the pain of cancer patients through a patch on the skin. It provides an intense short-term high with temporary feelings of euphoria. Additional effects include slowed respiration and reduced blood pressure, nausea, fainting, seizures and death.

Fentanyl made for abusive purposes is primarily made in Mexico.

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control reported 1,100 fentanyl overdose deaths in 2020. That number rose to 1,494 deaths in 2021 and accounted for two-thirds of the overdose deaths.

'Things just don't click'

Over three years later, Crystal would trace the drug addiction that led to Clifton's overdose to a procedure having his wisdom teeth removed around four years before his death.

After the procedure, Clifton began complaining of stomach pain.

Crystal said Clifton connected his stomach pain to those pills. She said he told her he only had stomach pains if he stopped taking those pills for a couple of days. But, as soon as he popped another pill, the stomach pains went away.

Three years after Clifton's death, Crystal said she recognized those pains as a sign of withdrawal.

But no one made that connection at the time.

"Things just don't click," Crystal said.

Especially because Clifton's behavior didn't change.

"He was still that loving kid," Crystal said.

She and Scott said Clifton still loved the outdoors and insisted on hugs at every meeting, goodbye and good night.

There were none of the stereotypical issues found with drug users, Crystal said.

Then, a coworker offered Clifton some advice: take the pills he had began prescribed, crush them up, place the crushed up pills in a water bottle and sip it throughout the day.

As far as Crystal and Scott knew, everything was fine for a while.

That changed Dec. 28, 2019.

Due to family issues, Clifton frequently moved between his mother's house, his father's house and his grandmother's house. And after he moved back to his mother's house, Scott and Clifton often met when Scott was on his way home from Bridgestone and Clifton was on his way to work.

That day, Scott said he made it all the way home and found Clifton still getting ready. Scott said he was anxious for his stepson to get to work but Clifton told him he had to take care of something real quick.

Clifton and his girlfriend retreated upstairs.

Scott said he waited around for five or 10 minutes then went upstairs to see what was taking so long. He found Clifton's girlfriend showing his stepson how to inject a crushed up pill.

Scott said he and Clifton had a big blowup and Clifton moved back in with his father.

Lethal fentanyl dose

Clifton's addiction quickly worsened.

There were emergency room visits for cotton fever and leg swelling.

Cotton fever is an illness that some drug users get after injecting drugs using needles laced with bacteria.

Clifton's friends introduced him to methamphetamines and heroin.

Eventually, Clifton made what turned out to be his final move to his grandmother's house.

Scott said he saw Clifton a few days before he died. Clifton was anxious to go to his mother's and work on the truck he kept there, Scott said. But, Scott said Clifton looked tired and he told him to get some sleep and they would revisit the truck the next week.

The day before he died, Monday, July 13, 2020, Clifton and his grandmother sought help.

Crystal said they visited an Augusta medical facility to seek treatment for Clifton's addiction. But, she said they were told beds weren't available and to come back another day.

That wouldn't happen.

After Clifton's death, Scott found his iPad — he shared everything including his passwords, Crystal said — and the iPad outlines Clifton's last hours on Earth including the messages between him and an Augusta dealer who sold him the drugs.

"It went through the negotiations and everything," Scott said. "Even 'hey, I'm out front.'"

Scott said the messages showed sometime after 2 a.m. that morning Clifton traded a Raven .25 automatic pistol for the fentanyl that would end his life.

Crystal said Clifton likely didn't know the drugs he purchased had been laced with fentanyl. She said drug dealers lace drugs with fentanyl because they use less of the other drugs and provide the same high.

Scott added Clifton received a dose of fentanyl strong enough to kill 12 people.

Edgefield County emergency personnel found Clifton with Cain's house phone.

That phone, Scott said, showed Clifton making a call to a friend around 6 a.m.

What the purpose of that call was is unknown.

Scott said the friend said he was asleep and didn't pickup but he thought Clifton may have been calling for help.

The aftermath

Scott said after he arrived at his mother-in-law's house and found out Clifton was dead, his next move was to call Crystal and tell her to slow down.

He then found the iPad and shared it with law enforcement.

Clifton was buried July 20, 2020 in West Virginia.

Crystal said she has found returning to work difficult. She added she decided she was going to be Clifton's voice.

"I just tell people if you don't already know someone who has been affected by fentanyl, you soon will," Crystal said.

She testified before a South Carolina General Assembly committee in 2022 and asked lawmakers to increase the penalties for fentanyl trafficking.

Lawmakers listened.

On Feb. 1, the South Carolina House of Representatives passed a fentanyl trafficking bill by a 96-21 vote. The South Carolina Senate passed the bill 45-0 May 23.

The bill went into effect June 15.

S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster held a ceremonial signing .

"Through this legislation, we provide our law enforcement and prosecutors with valuable tools to keep these drug dealers behind bars, helping to combat the unprecedented flood of fentanyl crossing the Southern border and entering our communities," McMaster said. "Going forward, we must continue to crack down on criminals within South Carolina by strengthening our bond reform bill and enhancing penalties for illegal gun possession, effectively closing the revolving door once and for all."

Crystal attended the ceremonial signing.

"We're ecstatic," Scott said.

Scott and Crystal added they would also like to see lawmakers pass a drug-induced homicide bill.