While Sandra McGivern can’t do anything to bring her son back, she’s doing everything she can to make sure his death wasn’t in vain.

Sandra’s son, Angus, died from a fentanyl overdose in September last year in Queensland.

She’s dedicating her life to campaign politicians and warn others about her son’s death.

“I can't bring him back, but I will spend the rest of my life making sure that no one else's kid gets the same thing,” she told Tom Steinfort in a 60 Minutes investigation.

“It's the most important thing in my entire life.”

There were more than 500 deaths linked to the drug over a five-year period. (60 Minutes)

Ms McGivern’s son Angus developed an addiction to fentanyl after suffering a back injury. (60 Minutes)

Fentanyl is a painkiller fifty times stronger than heroin, used treat anything from cancer pain to back to injuries.

“Because it was prescription drugs, I really thought it would be okay,” Sandra told 60 Minutes.

“I didn’t think he’d die, truly.”

Angus was introduced to opiates in the United States to help manage his back pain from an injury sustained while playing rugby.

Soon, he developed an addiction that would end up costing him his life.

When Sandra heard of her son’s struggles, she flew Angus home to attend rehab in an attempt to tackle his addiction.

Sandra McGivern is leading a campaign to restrict the prescription of the drug. (60 Minutes)

Fentanyl can be used as a patch. (60 Minutes)

It was there, however, he was introduced to fentanyl.

Angus was able to collect and store the drug through “doctor shopping,” visiting multiple clinics per day.

Sandra discovered a stack of fentanyl stored in her roof, with five different boxes from five different doctors.

“He was on such a massive dose of it that his eyes would flicker. I'd be talking to him and his eyes would start rolling back in his head,” she said.

Sandra has started a petition on website Change.org, demanding fentanyl only be prescribed by specialist doctors.

While she was hoping for just 100 signatures, she now has more than 19,000.

Many shared their own stories of friends and family overdosing or becoming addicted.

“My sister was killed by prescription drugs. Doctors have to stop prescribing these lethal drugs,” one proponent of Sandra’s petition wrote.

Fentanyl is easy to use and available in patches, which are stuck on the skin and last for three days, making overdosing on the patches easy.

New figures obtained by 60 Minutes show there have been 514 fentanyl related deaths between January 2010 and December 2015.

For Doctor Bastian Seidel, the president of Australia’s Royal College of General Practitioners, this number constitutes as a crisis.

“It is a disaster,” he said.

Dr Bastian Seidel said our fentanyl crisis is a "disaster". (60 Minutes)

Dr Seidel doesn’t think fentanyl should be prescribed for minor pains.

“It’s quite inappropriate,” he told Steinfort, adding alternatives were difficult to come by.

“It’s a difficult situation… we can’t reign the prescribing in.”

Sandra’s petition caught the attention of federal Health Minister Greg Hunt.

Revealing to 60 Minutes for the first time, Mr Hunt says he has requested the Therapeutic Goods Administration to review the range of conditions for which fentanyl can be prescribed.

“They are likely to recommend more limited range of uses for Fentanyl,” he said.

“It’s so powerful and potentially, in the wrong hands, so addictive.”