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Sheriff’s Deputies Inform Families About Fentanyl At 2022 Parent Resource Symposium

Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies discussed the dangers of fentanyl and how to respond to and prevent overdoses during the 2022 Parent Resource Symposium.

Santa Clarita parents were invited to learn about how fentanyl is affecting teenagers and ask deputies questions during the event, which was held at City Hall Friday evening.

About Fentanyl

Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that is more deadly than other drugs. In recent months, it has become more common for street drugs to be laced with fentanyl, which has led to a spike in overdoses and deaths.

Law enforcement officials at Friday’s event said sometimes drugs are intentionally laced with fentanyl because it is highly addictive, and dealers want buyers to get hooked.

They also said drugs produced illegally sometimes accidentally become contaminated with fentanyl because of unclean conditions.

According to sheriff’s officials, deaths are becoming more common among teenagers experimenting with drugs because of how lethal fentanyl is.

“Santa Clarita is not immune from the deadly spike in fentanyl,” said SCV Sheriff’s Station Captain Justin Diez at the event. “Just in the past year alone Santa Clarita has seen 23 deaths, overdose deaths, from fentanyl.”

In fact, the Santa Clarita Valley has the most Fentanyl related overdoses in Los Angeles County that is patrolled by the LASD, officials said in a press conference at Action Drug Rehab

Only one of those deaths was of a child under the age of 18.

How Fentanyl Is Bought

Social media is often used by drug dealers and purchasers to buy and sell drugs, according to the SCV Sheriff’s Station.

“Dealers are using social media apps — Telegram, Snapchat, Instagram — to elicit dangerous drugs,” said Deputy Dmitri Rasaei, a member of the SCV Sheriff’s Station Juvenile Intervention Team (J-Team). “You can’t monitor your kids 24/7, so that’s why these dealers are using apps where you’re not going to be able to see who they’re communicating with.”

Rasaei said dealers tend to set up makeshift marijuana shops in their homes, garages and cars.  There, they sell vapes laced with THC.

Preventing Overdoses

Deputies encouraged parents to prevent overdoses by keeping close watch over their children.

“Parents, you don’t have to worry about violating your kids’ rights because you’re not held to the standard of law enforcement…” Diez said. “So the moral of the story — check the phones, whether you pay for it or your child pays for it, check their rooms.”

Diez also emphasized having straightforward conversations with kids about the dangers of drugs and fentanyl poisoning.

To prevent fentanyl overdoses, parents can also bring drugs to Action Drug Rehab in Santa Clarita to be tested for fentanyl, according to Cary Quashen, founder of the recovery center.

Additionally, Action Drug Rehab will drug test teens free of charge, Quashen said.

Responding To Overdoses

According to law enforcement officials, the best way to help someone who is overdosing is to administer Narcan.

Narcan is sold at pharmacies. It can also sometimes be found for free through state distribution programs.


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Sheriff’s Deputies Inform Families About Fentanyl At 2022 Parent Resource Symposium

9 comments

  1. Bring back Trump’s strong protect America policies! Build the wall, send back/stop Illegal Immigration that allows all sorts of Illegal drugs, human trafficking, terrorists, etc. Deport Illegal Aliens that violate more/other laws! Stop Sanctuary cities! America can’t afford any more Illegal Aliens in all aspects of civilized life!

  2. Your new name is Bigot Bill.

    Plus this article is about Fentanyl. People, if you want to avoid fentanyl put down the pills and powders and stick to pot.

    • Problem with that is Pot is laced with it too. Why use??

    • They’ll start lacing the pot with fentanyl and then you’ll be screwed.

      It’s not bigoted to want the federal government to uphold the law. The US is the only country IN THE WORLD that lets just anyone who wants to wander in.

      You cannot separate illegal immigration from the Fentanyl crisis because none of the street drug is manufactured in the USA. It is synthesized in Mexico, India, and primarily China. If we had a completely secure border the fentanyl overdose deaths would end within weeks.

      That’s why I’m so astonished by you liberals- you throw around words like racists and bigot like a teenager calling people names on XBox Live, but then you just don’t care about the 100,000+ Fentanyl deaths this year alone.

      By definition the word bigot means “a person who is obstinately or unreasonably attached to a belief, opinion, or faction…” That describes you liberal Democrats perfectly.

  3. You are painting with a broad brush.

  4. Johnny Utah the condoner just threw out the magic default words bigot/racist/phob/etc. because it doesn’t like the Truth/Facts of reality, because it sounds like he is part of the problem he & his cabal is imposing on all of decent societies! Wake up, not Woke up Sheeple!

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About Zena Taher

Zena Taher moved to Santa Clarita when she was 12 years old. She has always been a voracious reader, which led her to take an interest in writing professionally. She graduated College of the Canyons in 2021 with a double major in journalism and communications and is currently attending California State University Northridge.