Laura Lynch has spent five years walking into school auditoriums across Washington and telling teenagers how her daughter died.

On Wednesday, July 16, the DEA recognized that work with its first-ever Fentanyl Free America Prevention Award.

DEA Administrator Terry Cole presented the individual award to Lynch, a Bellevue mother whose 18-year-old daughter, Brillion Lynch, died of fentanyl poisoning in April 2021, six days after her birthday.

Brillion had taken half of a fentanyl-laced pill, according to Lynch's testimony before the King County Council in 2022.

The DEA Seattle Division confirmed the award on X, noting Lynch received the individual honor alongside a second recipient in an organizational category.

Since then, Lynch has delivered "One Pill Can Kill" presentations to more than 30,000 students in 20 schools statewide, according to a press release from U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell's office. She has also met with youth organizations, parents, and civic leaders, and visited Cantwell multiple times to push for stronger federal legislation targeting fentanyl dealers who use social media to sell counterfeit pills to young people.

The DEA called Lynch "one of America's most effective voices in fentanyl prevention."

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., congratulated Lynch in the July 16 press release, saying her advocacy "will help countless families" and that federal legislative work "is made possible by unwavering advocates like Laura."

Lynch's advocacy has shaped policy at the local level, too. In July 2022, the King County Council unanimously declared fentanyl a public health crisis.

Lynch publicly supported that legislation, telling the council she was "relieved this is starting to get the attention it deserves."

Her presentations don't shy away from the criminal justice system. At a 2023 "One Pill Can Kill" event on Mercer Island, Lynch told students she fought alongside police and detectives to track down the dealer responsible for Brillion's death.

The dealer received a 20-month sentence but was released in four and a half months, the Bellevue Reporter reported. Nine months after his release, he was caught dealing drugs again.

Cantwell has traveled to 10 Washington communities to hear from people on the front lines of the fentanyl crisis and has championed bipartisan bills to expand a Washington-developed fentanyl treatment pilot program nationally and to crack down on trafficking of illicit synthetic drugs.

"I encourage all of you to advocate and use your power as a voter," Lynch said at that 2023 Mercer Island presentation. "We all know Washington drug laws aren't nearly adequate for the crisis we are facing now."