The teen's parents say he met a drug dealer on Snapchat who sold him a deadly fentanyl pill he thought was the pain reliever Percocet.
- The parents of a 17-year-old boy who died after taking a fentanyl-laced pill are working to sound the alarm for other families, as overdose deaths from synthetic opioids continue to rise.
Zach Didier’s sudden death was initially a mystery to investigators, but the Placer County Coroner had two theories on the day of his death: either an undetected medical issue or fentanyl. In 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says more than 71,000 people in the United States died due to overdosing on synthetic opioids, mostly fentanyl. It was a 23% jump from the previous year.
New CDC data indicate the most common place for teens to overdose is at home, and experts said there are various reasons they turn to pills. A Los Angeles Police narcotics detective, who wanted to remain anonymous, said many teens are obtaining fentanyl through social media sites, such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.
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