‘Fentanyl steals your friends’: Pills bought on social media are killing kids in classrooms and in their beds
All over America, families are being broken by fentanyl.
Fifty times more powerful than heroin, this deadly drug is more addictive than anything that’s come before. It’s been in circulation in America for a decade, fuelling an unprecedented addiction crisis.
A ruthless criminal network stretching back to Mexico, China and beyond, is pushing it into schools, clubs and onto the streets to hook people. In the US, more than 70,000 people a year are being killed by this synthetic opioid.
Now, in a terrifying twist, fentanyl is killing school children who are buying pills laced with the drug on social media, and overdosing in their classrooms and in their beds.
We travelled to the city of Kyle in Texas to hear the stories of families whose lives have been ripped apart. Gathered under a tree in a local park, they stood – united by grief – clutching photos of their loved ones. Some had sought painkillers. Others were desperate to sleep. Some were just teenagers experimenting. None wanted to die.
Families who have lost loved ones to fentanyl in Texas are speaking out
‘This is a war’
Jim Fraser: “We lost our daughter, Maile, on 17 February. She took something at home during the night, I guess, before she went to bed. We found her the next morning. She was 19 years old.
“We don’t know exactly what she took. But we know it was laced with fentanyl.
Jim and Veneeta Fraser
“She suffered from anxiety and depression, and was on a couple of medications for that. I guess she just wanted something stronger or different.
“This is a war. People from another country are attacking and killing our children. It’s got to stop.”
Veneeta Fraser: “Maile was a beautiful child. A bright light to everybody she came in contact with.
“She wasn’t addicted to anything. She couldn’t sleep and needed help – it speaks to the mental health crisis in this country.
“You don’t believe it could happen to you. And here we are. It truly could happen to anybody.”
Brandi Hickman spoke about what happened to her son
‘It started with marijuana’
Brandi Hickman: “Kids are supposed to learn from their mistakes, not die from them.
“Fentanyl doesn’t discriminate whether you’re rich or poor, black or white. It has no boundaries.
“My son, Andron, didn’t want to feel different. So he chose to self-medicate. It started with marijuana, the gateway drug – now fentanyl is being laced in marijuana as well.
“My message is live your life. You don’t want to be represented on the t-shirt that I have to wear of my son. You don’t want your parents to have to experience what we’re going through.”
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‘He thought it was a xanax’
Stefanie Turner: “The first time Tucker was offered a pill was at a New Year’s Eve party when he was 18 years old. He came home and told us about this pill that he was offered, he thought it was a xanax. We talked to him about not taking prescription medication.
“Little did I know that fentanyl was in the pill and how quickly that can create an addiction. Over the course of nine months, Tucker struggled. When he felt stressed, he would turn to a pill as his way of coping.
“Over the course of nine months, he went to two treatment centres.
“After four months of sobriety and what appeared to be living his best life, in September 2021 he chose to purchase another pill on social media.
“Tucker was found 10 hours later.”
Janet Zarate, Ray Brown and their family
‘Don’t think it can’t be your kid’
Janet Zarate: “Ryan Matthew Garcia Jr. Our “King Ryan”. He will be forever 17.
“He was an outgoing, smart, beautiful, happy, funny boy. He loved his job. He loved school and played football. He was a great athlete.
“Unfortunately, on 11 February, 2022, he took what he thought was a percocet [an opioid pain relief]. It was laced with fentanyl and it forever changed our lives.”
Ray Brown: “Don’t get it twisted and think it can’t be your kid.
“He was normal, happy. He wasn’t depressed. He wasn’t a drug addict. He was just a kid being a kid. And unfortunately he died as a kid being a kid.”
These families, spearheaded by Stefanie who founded the charity Texas United Against Fentanyl shortly after Tucker’s death, all desperately want to raise awareness of the dangers.
Their message was echoed by the Texas school teachers and police officers we met who are working tirelessly to combat this epidemic.
The teachers, some of whom keep the reversal treatment narcan on hand in case a student overdoses at school, are calling for more treatment for mental health in children, a need even more urgent after the isolation many young people faced over the COVID pandemic.
The police leading the drug busts want more resources and better border control. They need help to break the criminal chain that is supplying the drugs.
They all agree that action is needed now more than ever.
“Tucker was a deep thinker,” says Stefanie. “People often say, ‘Well, if he was so smart, why would he choose to use that drug?’ But it’s the drug. It’s so addictive and powerful – it steals lives. That’s what it did to our son.”
Three people have been critically injured after a helicopter crash in Sacramento, according to the Californian city’s fire department.
Images from the scene show a medical helicopter lying upside down on the eastbound lanes of Highway 50.
The helicopter had taken a patient to a hospital and was returning to the place it had been dispatched from when it experienced an “in-air emergency” just after 7pm local time (3am UK time), according to Captain Justin Sylvia, from the Sacramento Fire Department.
He said there were a pilot, nurse, and paramedic on board at the time of the crash, who were taken to local hospitals in “critical condition”. Mr Sylvia said the crew consisted of two women and one man.
The helicopter could be seen lying upside down after the crash
One of the women was trapped underneath the helicopter, with civilians on the highway helping the fire department to lift part of the helicopter out of the way to free the victim and get her into an ambulance.
“It took every ounce of all approximately 15 people to move that aircraft up just enough to get her out,” Mr Sylvia said at a news conference.
He added: “There’s a pretty large debris field around that at this point. The lucky portion for us, I’d say, is the fact that the helicopter did not catch on fire.”
Captain Justin Sylvia from the Sacramento Fire Department said people helped free an injured person trapped under the helicopter
No vehicles were involved in the crash and no one on the highway was injured, Mr Sylvia said, adding that this was “mind-blowing” given that the helicopter crashed in the centre of the road.
“People reported that they basically saw the helicopter kind of going down quickly. So all the traffic slowed down,” he explained.
Sacramento City councilwoman Lisa Kaplan said she was on a ride-along with local law enforcement responding to the crash.
Law enforcement officers stand near the wreckage of the helicopter. Pic: AP
She described plumes of white smoke coming out of the crashed helicopter.
“It’s really sombering and sobering. I am up flying with sheriff pilots that do this day in and day out. And it really makes you grateful for every day and grateful for our officers and our medical pilots,” she said.
The road is expected to be closed for an extended time, according to Officer Michael Harper, a spokesperson for the California Highway Patrol.
The helicopter could be seen lying on its side after the crash
“The cause of the crash is still under investigation,” his colleague, Officer Mike Carillo, added.
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The helicopter appears to belong to REACH Air Medical Services, which confirmed to ABC7 that three of its crew were hurt in the crash.
The Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The US Supreme Court has rejected an appeal request from Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned ex-girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, over her criminal conviction.
Maxwell was sentenced in June 2022 to 20 years in prison after being convicted in December 2021 on sex trafficking charges.
Her lawyers argued she never should have been tried or convicted for her role in luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein.
Undated picture of Ghislaine Maxwell with Jeffrey Epstein. File pic: US Department of Justice
Undated picture of Ghislaine Maxwell with Jeffrey Epstein. File pic: US Department of Justice
The nine justices declined to take up a case that would have drawn renewed attention to the sexual-abuse saga.
US President Donald Trump and his administration, which urged the court not to accept the case, have been condemned for refusing to publicly release all the files from Epstein’s case.
Maxwell was moved from a low-security federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas after she was interviewed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in July.
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As usual, the justices on the highest court in the US did not explain why they turned down the appeal.
Maxwell’s legal team argued she shouldn’t have faced prosecution because of a deal that Epstein, who took his own life while in prison in 2019, made with federal prosecutors in Miami.
The 2007 agreement protected his “potential co-conspirators” from federal charges anywhere in the country, they said.
Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida with Jeffrey Epstein in 1997. Pic: Getty Images
Jeffrey Epstein. File pic: New York State Sex Offender Registry/AP
Maxwell was prosecuted in Manhattan, and the federal appeals court there ruled that the prosecution was proper.
A jury found her guilty of sex trafficking a teenage girl, among other charges.
Maxwell was given limited immunity when Mr Blanche interviewed her over the summer, allowing her to speak freely without fear of prosecution for anything she said except for in the event of a false statement.
She repeatedly denied seeing any sexually inappropriate interactions involving Mr Trump, according to records released in August meant to distance the president from the disgraced financer.
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As the president was arriving in the UK for his second state visit, his image was being projected on to the side of Windsor Castle alongside that of Jeffrey Epstein.
Epstein was arrested in 2019 on sex trafficking charges and was accused of sexually abusing dozens of teenage girls.
A month later, he was found dead in a New York jail cell in what investigators described as a suicide.
Maxwell’s move to a lower security facility was criticised by the family of Epstein abuse survivor Virginia Giuffre, who died in April, and accusers Annie and Maria Farmer.
Describing Maxwell as a “sexual predator who physically assaulted minor children on multiple occasions”, they said in a statement the transfer “smacks of a cover up. The victims deserve better”.
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When it announced in July that no additional documents from the investigation would be released, the US Justice Department declared that Epstein had killed himself, despite conspiracy theories to the contrary.
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A “client list” that US Attorney General Pam Bondi had intimated was on her desk did not actually exist, the department said.
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Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of 300 National Guard members to Chicago, the latest in a string of cities where US troops have been sent.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson confirmed the US president authorised the move, citing what she called “ongoing violent riots and lawlessness” that local leaders have not quelled.
“President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities,” Ms Jackson said.
Chicago is the latest city in the US where Mr Trump has authorised the deployment of US troops, as it follows similar orders for Los Angeles, Washington and Portland.
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Democratic governor JB Pritzker branded the move unnecessary and “a manufactured performance – not a serious effort to protect public safety”.
The Illinois governor said in a statement: “This morning, the Trump administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will.
“It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.”
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It comes as an attempt by the Trump administration to deploy the National Guard in Portland, Oregon, was temporarily blocked by a federal judge in a lawsuit brought by the state and city.
The plaintiffs said a deployment would violate the US constitution as well as a federal law that generally prohibits the military from being used to enforce domestic laws.
Mr Trump ordered the deployment of troops to “war-ravaged Portland” last week, authorising the use of “full force” if needed.
The move came after a gunman opened fire on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in Dallas, wounding two detainees and killing another.
Mr Trump sent the National Guard to Los Angeles over the summer and to Washington DC, as part of his law enforcement takeover there.
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