AUDIO – COMMUNICATION IS KEY –
Jan. 24, 2024 – The message during a recent public health forum was clear and chilling: Don’t do drugs. They could kill you – or, at the very least, ruin your life. About 30 people attended the forum – titled “What I Wish My Parents Knew: Dangers of Youth Substance Use and Fentanyl . More than half of the counterfeit pills the Drug Enforcement Administration confiscated in 2022, for example, contained fentanyl. And, according to the DEA, criminal drug networks are using social media and e-commerce platforms such as Snapchat to target minors.
Fentanyl-related overdose deaths among folks 10 to 19 years old in California increased by 625% from 2018 to 2020. Locally, there were 529 fentanyl deaths in the South Bay from 2016 to 2021, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, including 114 people younger than 25.
Fentanyl’s effects can be up to 50 times stronger than heroin and other synthetic opioids – and can be lethal even in minute quantities.
