BUTTE — The parents of a Butte man who recently died from a fentanyl overdose are furious and are demanding to know why overdose deaths continue to plague the Mining City after years of record-high death rates.
Watch: Butte parents seek answers after son's fentanyl death
As she sits by her daughter in the tattoo chair, a Butte mother cradles a grey sweatshirt and talks about her son.
"This is the hoodie he was wearing, and so it’s the closest I get to be with him, " says Heather Holland.
"That first second before you wake up, before your eyes open, you’re awake, but your eyes aren’t open. You get sort of a smile inside because you think, ‘Oh, I just dreamt that, that was a nightmare," says Holland.
Holland and her daughter are getting tattoos to memorialize Aaron McArthur, who died from a fentanyl overdose in September.
Holland says every morning when she wakes, she experiences the soul-shattering realization that the death of her 33-year-old son is not a dream, and she becomes angry.
"I’m mad. I can’t...I’m sitting here and I’m sad, but I’m mad now. These people need help. These families need help."
Aaron battled addiction for years, beginning with a dependence on a common sleep medication that progressed to the use of illicit drugs. He spent time in a rehab facility in Kalispell two years ago, but his family says he was caught up in a vicious cycle of addiction.
Before his death, he had been clean for nine days, but Heather says finding help to treat his addiction was impossible.
"Five people overdosed the night my son overdosed. Two of those died, and one was my son," says Heather. She says one barrier to her son's decision-making process to seek help in rehab is the fact that Montana does not have a program that helps people struggling with addiction who also have pets. She says her son didn't want to abandon his large mixed-breed dog.
"Aaron called him TiTi, and I got him two days after Aaron’s passing. He chipped away a little bit of the blackness in my heart," says Mark McArthur.
On a recent snowy morning, Mark walks Aaron’s dog Titus by the property where his son died. He recounts the last day he saw him. Aaron was pale and sweating. Mark says he was in severe pain from withdrawals.
"I begged him to get in that van. His dog did. He was so ill, and I just couldn’t get him there."
One year ago, Aaron was one of six people who experienced a fentanyl overdose and was saved by Narcan, a drug that reverses an overdose. Butte-Silver Bow initiated distribution of the drug and began providing training classes for the community.
Aaron’s grandmother, Mary Rowe, was taking the class after Aaron and another grandchild overdosed.
"It’s ruining lives, and we’ve lost a lot in this community, and we’ve saved a lot Narcaning them but then you can only do it if you’re there," says Mary as she volunteers at her weekly shift at the soup kitchen.
She says she sees a lot of people coming through who appear to be using drugs, and it breaks her heart. She wants to see more being done for those who are fighting addiction.
"We were at the round table meeting years ago with the county officials and the governor. We gave them our names and emails, and nobody ever responded to us," says Mary.
Since January 2025, the Butte-Silver Bow Health Department reports that they have trained 64 people to administer Narcan. They have also distributed over 1,400 boxes of the drug.
In the spring of 2025, the state announced that it would spend $400,000 on Naloxone kiosks, but Butte does not have a kiosk.
I think no door should be closed when parents, loved ones, are trying to find out what’s out there for our loved ones to get help, let’s make it easier," Mark said.
Mary says Narcan administration saves lives, but it’s not a total solution.
"I was researching. I was calling people. I was beating doors down just to find help, and I wasn’t finding any," says Heather. She wonders if access to programs that are offered through the Montana Department of Health and Human Services would have saved her son.
"I think no door should be closed when parents, loved ones, are trying to find out what’s out there for our loved ones to get help, let’s make it easier," says Mark.
He says he contemplated kidnapping his son just to get him away from the drug scene that he was caught up in.
WATCH: Butte sheriff says fentanyl crisis transforms police into 'drug counselors and medics'
State data indicates that overdose deaths in Butte are higher than state and even national averages, and while Montana has invested massive amounts of money in initiatives meant to help addicts, Heather and Mark wonder why the services aren’t reaching those who need them in the Mining City.
"I don’t want anybody to have to go through this again, and I want those who are doing drugs to have an avenue where they aren’t afraid they’re going to go to jail. If you want help," says Heahter.
Holland is working to form a support group for families who experience loss due to addiction and suicide called Goose: Grieve Openly: Overcome Stigma, Embrace Help. The group carries her son’s nickname "goose". Heather says she got the name from his favorite childhood storybook.
