One Pill Can Kill

In February 2021, talk show therapist Dr. Laura Berman’s 16-year old son Sammy died of an accidental drug overdose after ingesting a fentanyl-laced Xanax pill.

He had bought the pills on Snapchat, a social media sight popular with young people.

Social media has become a lucrative territory for drug dealers selling counterfeit prescription painkillers labeled with brand names like Xanax and Percocet.

Acting Drug Enforcement Administration head Chris Evans said that “The lethality of one pill is something that we haven’t seen before and haven’t really faced.” (Today.com 2/21/2021)

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid with lethal potential due to it’s potency, 50 times more powerful than heroin. Synthetic opioids like fentanyl are responsible for 75% of the fatal drug poisonings in the US, which reached a record 100,000 this past year.

Monitoring your teen’s social media use, being on the lookout for drug use and paraphernalia, and being aware of mental health warning signs are essential today.

Many of the losses families have suffered developed after children were prescribed painkillers following medical procedures, including dental work, and continued to purchase black market pills they believed were Percocet or other opiates.

See the NBC News special “When One Pill Kills”, Olivia Salon, 10/1/2021.

https://www.nbcnews.com/specials/pills-bought-on-snapchat-deadly/

(Patrick Crouse)