Billboard featuring Sacramento fentanyl victims hopes to save lives: "My life has changed forever"
SACRAMENTO — A sign was placed high above Interstate 5 near Bayou Way to raise awareness of the increasing number of deaths due to fentanyl poisoning. It features the faces of more than a dozen men and women who have died in and around the Sacramento region.
Mareka Cole with the organization Drug Induced Homicide is the one who spearheaded efforts to bring an electronic billboard to the Sacramento region and said it was paid for by mothers honoring a child they lost to fentanyl poisoning.
"We belong to a club no one wants to belong to," Cole said. "We're all fighting fentanyl; we're fighting this scourge that's taking our kids."
Mareka lost her son, Marek, and continues honoring his legacy by supporting other mothers suffering loss and connecting families with resources to make sure their cases are being investigated properly by law enforcement.
Sharon Freeman was among the mothers watching from the side of the freeway Monday as a photo of her son, Riley, flashed onto the screen. He died on February 13, 2024, and his family laid him to rest just four days ago.
"These laws have to change so that these fentanyl dealers are prosecuted. It's murder," Freeman said. "They are not being murdered by fentanyl. They are being murdered by fentanyl dealers."
The group is also advocating for more accountability and harsher penalties for the drug dealers who sell pills that lead to someone's death.
"My life has changed forever. It's different," Freeman said. "It's different every single day."
Freeman's best friend, Shonda Sandoval, shares in her pain of loss, saying that more must be done to raise awareness for how common these deaths are becoming.
"Young people are going to parties now and thinking they are just having a good time, and they are dying," Sandoval said.
She said seeing her child's photo on a billboard is a way of honoring their life
"I'm hoping it'll put a face to it," Sandoval said. "They aren't just a number. They're not just numbers. They are human beings."
Stephanie Boatright lost her son, Isaiah, on May 29, 2023, and says she never expected something like this to happen to her family.
"I want people to know what this drug is doing. It's not even a drug. This is poison and we are losing our kids left and right out here," Boatright said. "I never would have thought this would happen to my son, never in a million years."
The photos featured on the billboard are from the Sacramento and surrounding region.
