Northern LA County leads area in fentanyl-related overdoses
Crystal Anzalone's son, Nicholas, was only 19 years old when he died from a fentanyl overdose in Santa Clarita a year ago.
"He was just genuine and he had a great heart," said Crystal Anzalone. "God, I miss him so much."
Anzalone's son joins an alarming number of young people dying from fentanyl.
"He started taking fentanyl medicine that is toxic," she said. "I revived him 9 times and I don't even know CPR."
Officials gathered in Santa Clarita to warn people about the lethal effects of fentanyl disguised as prescription pills, after authorities reported northern Los Angeles county leads the area in fentanyl-related overdoses. Founder of Action Drug and Rehab center Cary Quashen showed how the fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills he's confiscated look very similar to prescription pills.
"They look like strong, prescription Xanax," Quashen said. "You cannot tell these apart... People are buying these all day long on the internet. You can buy them on Snapchat. You can buy them wherever you want but they're not real."
He joined elected officials on Monday to bring more awareness to the deadly counterfeit pills.
"I don't think really anyone understands the magnitude of the problem," said Congressman Mike Garcia.
Quashen added that education is key to getting out of what he calls the worst drug epidemic he's seen.
"We're not going to arrest our way out of this," he said. "And we're not going to buy our way out of this. We can educate our way out of this."
While authorities try to get a handle on the distribution of these lethal pills, Anzalone is still trying to understand how a drug like fentanyl exists.
"What is this stuff that is so powerful that it would literally kill my son every time he took it," she said.
A month ago the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department created a task force to specifically deal with overdose death investigation to identify and convict the people who sell the deadly substance.
