‘One pill can kill.’ High school students take field trip to DEA on Fentanyl Awareness Day
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Students from Canyon Hills High School took a field trip to the DEA on Fentanyl Awareness Day.
Since 2020, fentanyl has killed hundreds of people each year in San Diego County, the number reaching 815 in 2022.
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The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and its partners are ramping up prevention efforts this Fentanyl Awareness Day by teaching students just how dangerous the synthetic opioid is.
Illicit fentanyl is typically made in labs outside of the U.S. and illegally brought into the U.S. from Mexico. The synthetic opioid is 100 times more potent than prescribed opioid medications.
“One pill can kill. You’ve got to be careful. You have to know what you’re taking,” said Anthony Chrysanthis, Acting Special Agent in Charge, DEA.
It’s sweeping the nation – being mixed with other illegal drugs to make them more potent, then pressed into legitimate looking pills.
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The problem? Illegal drugs have no quality control and many people have no idea what they are taking.
“The cartels are all about making money, and they’re using this fentanyl to addict the youth in order to get customers and drive that profit range up higher,” said Chrysanthis.
The DEA says one kilogram of fentanyl could potentially kill half a million people.
DEA employees explained to students the risk of living in San Diego — a city near a major drug trafficking zone.
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“…I found it very eye opening to me, because like half of our drugs throughout the country comes through San Diego, and I did not know that before,” said Miranda Pena, junior, Canyon Hills High School.
The students said this field trip was unlike any they’ve ever been on.
“This one just seemed to be more informative than all the ones I’ve seen since elementary up until high school,” said Kieria Moore, junior, Canyon Hills High School.
The message hits, in some cases, too close to home.
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“I had a sports injury and I was prescribed opioids from the hospital, so just seeing how easy that would’ve been to happen to me,” said Ashley Roelofsz, senior, Canyon Hills High School.
“My father was saved by using Narcan…I think it’s amazing that they make this more available for the community,” said Moore.
Mothers hope sharing their stories of unimaginable loss will make students think twice.
Linda Colker’s daughter, Natalie, was prescribed opioids after a sports injury that led to a long road of addiction, rehab and recovery. At 31 she fell off track after having back surgery which led her back into using opioids. She purchased a pill from a man on Craigslist and it was the last pill she ever took.
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“She for some reason wanted to get ahold of some Percocet again, and it was laced with fentanyl,” said Linda Colker.
The man who is believed to have sold her daughter the tainted drugs was later found in jail. He refused to confirm that he had ever met Natalie.
Colker says she came to the event to express her pain, but also to show students thinking of a career in law enforcement that they will see bad things, but justice always prevails.
The DEA gave all of the students on the field trip a box of Naloxone in hopes of preventing more deaths from fentanyl.
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