In Los Gatos High School Thursday night, parents, students and community members gathered to learn about the crisis with fentanyl -- the synthetic opioid that is taking a growing number of lives across the country and in the Bay Area.
The event was hosted by the Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District and the Santa Clara County Opioid Overdose Prevention Project to raise awareness about fentanyl. School leaders believe this event was the first of the kind at a school in the area where all attendees were given Nalaxone, the medication used to reverse opioid overdoses. The district also completed training all it's teachers how to use Nalaxone (also known as Narcan) in the past few weeks.
Tragedy in Santa Clara County
Two parents, tied together by tragedy, told attendees at the Los Gatos High event about how fentanyl had altered their families' lives forever.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
Brennan Mullin told the audience that back in 2020, his son Aidan Mullin had just graduated from high school and was preparing to attend college. Aidan lived in Los Gatos and had just turned 18-years-old. Brennan said his son took a pill he believed to be Percocet and that was designed to look like Percocet.
"It was unfortunately was what we call a 'fentapill' -- a fake pill that had lethal amounts of fentanyl in it --and it took his life," Brennan Mullin explained.
"That was a moment in his life, that wasn’t the definition of who he was," Mullin continued, noting this son was also a musician and a fiercely loyal friend.
Local
Jan Blom explained to the auditorium in Los Gatos that his son, Linus, had a very similar experience.
Linus' wrestling talent had brought him to Los Gatos High School, his dad explained. But the pressure of high school began to impact Linus, compounded by the pandemic.
In July of 2020, just before Linus' 18th birthday, he took a pill he believed to be Percocet, his dad said.
"When we found him, it was too late," Jan Blom said of his son, wondering if things might had been different if they had Narcan to give Linus at the time.
The deaths of these two teens and others in the area, have prompted many in the community to try and prevent any future deaths.
"It has had a tremendous impact on our community, especially as we have grieved with those families," said Bill Sanderson, superintendent of Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District.
"And those family members now stepping up and wanting to speak to our students," Sanderson explained, adding that Blom and Mullin spoke with students at an event earlier in the day.
Fentanyl Crisis on the Rise
Mira Parwiz-Shamel, Director of Addiction Medicine Services for Santa Clara County, explained that the county has seen a sharp increase in fentanyl overdoses since around 2019. The county medical examiner's dashboard now indicates that fentanyl deaths make up more than 80% of opioid deaths in the past year.
She added that the pandemic and sales on social media platforms have led to the spike in young people accessing fentanyl. Parwiz-Shamel said another concerning aspect of this is young people will often try to buy another drug on social media like Percocet or Adderall, only to find the drug they purchased is laced with fentanyl.
Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, federal health leaders say.
Fighting Back
The county is hoping that distributing Narcan and educating the public about it helps to prevent future overdose deaths.
Santa Clara County leaders say the county is now making Narcan nasal spray available to any local high schools that want it.
“It’s very very easy, you do two puffs [of the Narcan nasal spray] and the person comes back to life,” explained Parwiz-Shamel.
“The more people we can get Narcan in the hands of--who are trained to use Narcan --we may save a life,” Superintendent Sanderson noted.
Many parents and some students attended the event Thursday night, all interested in better understanding fentanyl's impacts on the community.
“And I’ve heard it kills a lot of people and I’m hoping that’s not me,” said Sidney Rowe, a 17-year-old who was in attendance.
"Fentanyl] seems to be in the media a lot, and seems to be affecting a lot of people and teenagers in particular," said parent Debra Garcia. "And I have teenagers, so I just wanted to educate myself."
As the supply of fentanyl doesn't appear to be going away, the county is planning more awareness events like this in the future.
