OPIOID EPIDEMIC

The opioid epidemic has a hold of the nation as well as the central valley.

An addict can be anyone. Your best friend, coworker or teammate could be someone struggling with addiction.

“A lot of people who struggle with addiction internalize it a lot of stuff and they isolate themselves, and it’s not a recipe for success,” said a former addict.

Now getting high can be a game of Russian Roulette.

In 2021, emergency services responded to 84 fentanyl overdoses in Fresno. Thirty-four of them ended in death.

A place people can receive help is the nonprofit PAIN. PAIN stands for Parents and Addicts In Need. The nonprofit provides support for addicts and their families as well.

The founder of PAIN, Flindt Anderson, says being an addict is more dangerous than ever.

“With the fentanyl crisis, they don’t know what they’re getting,” Anderson said. “There’s no way to determine what is in that pill or if they are using cocaine. If a drug dealer has laced it with fentanyl or it’s just straight fentanyl.”

PAIN has helped over 3,000 addicts since 2009. According to Anderson, 93% of PAIN’s clientele went to a Clovis Unified School.

“They have to be the starting first baseman,” Anderson said. “They have to be the first chair trumpet in the band. They have to be straight-A students. Most of these kids are just that–kids. They don’t know how to handle that pressure.”

Frankie Deprima was not an addict. He was a fun-loving prankster who sometimes experimented with drugs. Frankie died from a fentanyl overdose two years ago. His mom Elaine Hudson recounted the day Frankie died.

“They were up all night playing Xbox,” Hudson said. “They would sleep all day. It was nothing unusual for him to not come out of his room.”

But the day went by and Hudson began to get worried.

“I went to his door, and it was locked, so I went and got the key. And I opened it up. I could tell he’d been gone for a long time,” said Hudson.

Frankie had six times the lethal dose of fentanyl in his system.

Now Hudson tells her story to others.

“I tell my story because I want kids to know when they see me, I want them to think about if their parents should have to go through this. No parent should have to find their child dead in their room.”