SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Fentanyl is being blamed for a sharp rise in overdose deaths in the Bay Area and across the country and grieving parents created a social media campaign to educate people about the harmful drug.
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More and more young people are dying from Fentanyl overdoses and many of them were unaware that they were taking the deadly drug.
Jeff Rosen Santa Clara County District Attorney said It only takes a small dose and a short amount of time for fentanyl to become deadly.
"Just a few weeks ago we seized 11,000 fentanyl pills, that's enough fentanyl to kill everyone in our county, that’s how dangerous this drug is," Rosen said.
People who intend to take another drug are also falling victim, including Jan Blom's 17-year-old son Linus.
"Linus had taken a pill that he thought was a Percocet but it actually was laced and contained a little dose of fentanyl," Blom told KCBS Radio.
That was in 2020, Linus was a star wrestler and suddenly his routine was completely disruptive.
"There is a lot of social pressure to take drugs, this is totally something we observed with our son Linus," he said. "It is actually really hard to say no when drugs are commonly excepted maybe even sometimes glamourized."
A new campaign is putting a spin on an old slogan by using the hashtag Just Say Know, to educate young people and families using social media. Brennan Mullin's 18-year-old son Aidan also died after taking a counterfeit pill.
"The best way to reduce demand is to educate and we are using social media platforms to do that," Mullin said. "Unfortunately, those same social media platforms can be used to discover and transact in many cases that occur with young people but most importantly they can be used to educate."
Health experts in San Francisco are also pointing to the success of the overdose reversal drug Naloxone or Narcan which has been saving lives, but they are calling for it to be more available.
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