Family speaks out on Dexter man's drug death

DEXTER, Mo. -- A local family has lost a son and a brother and for the third time in less than two years due to the misuse of prescription drugs. Now, Bryan Maslinski's family wants to warn young people about the dangers of taking the route that last weekend cost their young son his life."

"If Bryan's death can save one life, then he will not have died in vain," said Bryan Maslinski's grieving mother, Karen Maslinski, on Monday.

Maslinski, or "Maz" as he was known to friends, turned 21 two months ago. He worked at a local restaurant and following nearly three straight weeks of work without a break, he was off last Thursday night and decided to celebrate by going to a Poplar Bluff night spot. Before taking part in the night scene there, however, he purchased a pair of Fentanyl patches from a friend.

The patches are by prescription and are intended to ease the pain of patients suffering from illness or injury.

Fentanyl is a narcotic and a member of the same group of drugs to which opium and morphine belong and authorities say that drug abusers are increasingly turning toward this slow-release form of powerful painkiller for a quick, but dangerous "high."

It's not known if Bryan Maslinski had ever used a Fentanyl patch prior to last Thursday night, but on that night, according to family members, he applied one patch and ingested the contents of another patch. It was a fatal mistake. He returned home in the early morning hours of Friday, made it into his parents' house and collapsed. On Saturday at a Cape Girardeau hospital, his parents and sisters watched as Bryan's life ended at the age of 21.

The patches that contributed to the young man's death were purchased from a friend, and that friend now sits in the Stoddard County Jail on various drug charges, with possibly more pending related to his friend's death.

"Bryan's friend made a mistake and Bryan made a bigger one," said Karen Maslinski.

"Teenagers in Stoddard County," she continued in a direct plea to young people who experiment with drugs, "please wake up from the death of my son. One night of fun is not worth it."

Jamie Maslinski, Bryan's older sister, speaking for her family, added, "My brother wasn't thinking and a lot of these young people are selfish by doing what they do. Bryan has a mother and father, a brother and three sisters who will miss him for the rest of their lives and nieces who are too young to remember him."

Bryan Maslinski was the next-to-the-youngest of five children.

"People who do this," said his sister, "are not thinking of the family they could be leaving behind."

Maslinski family members believe that their son and brother was not a regular drug user and that his fatal intake of fentanyl was his first experience with the patch. They also hold no grievance toward the friend who sold him the patches, saying, "Our prayers are with the grieving parents of Bryan's friend at this time."

"We just want to get the word out," says Jamie Maslinski, "to young people to please stop this madness."