"No community is immune": Placer County is right in the middle of the fentanyl pipeline, DA says
ROSEVILLE — As California welcomes a new class of legislators, families are demanding they pick up the baton in the fight against fentanyl with support from local law enforcement.
As the fentanyl pipeline flows freely through Northern California, one rural county is caught in the middle.
"Fentanyl casts a very wide net. No community is immune," said Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire.
Gire said Placer County is no exception.
"Our proximity to the southern border, Placer County being at the tip of the Central Valley corridor puts us in a position where we're going to experience and see the illegal transportation of fentanyl," he said.
The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that Placer County saw a 450% increase in fentanyl deaths between 2019-2021. Now, Gire is demanding action from the newly sworn-in California State Legislature: act on the fentanyl crisis in a meaningful way, now, and implement harsher punishments for dealers whose drugs lead to death.
"If they don't care whether their customer lives or dies, and they sell them that deadly fentanyl, then they are responsible for the death of that individual," Gire said.
Families who've lost loved ones feel the same.
"I would like to see stronger penalties for fentanyl, for peddling it, for distributing it," Laura Didier said.
"When it comes to fentanyl and drug overdoses, when you're given fentanyl, because it is illegal, it should be deemed as a homicide," Mareka Cole said.
Both Cole and Didier come from different backgrounds but were unfortunately brought together by fentanyl.
"Fentanyl does not discriminate," Cole said.
Her son, Marek, died one year ago. Didier's son, Zach, died back in 2020.
"There just needs to be stronger laws," Cole said.
"I would like to see the legislature step up," Didier said.
Gire is now circulating a petition signed by neighbors pressuring lawmakers to do just that.
Didier and Gire have spearheaded the One Pill Can Kill program. They travel together around the county teaching high school-aged students the danger of fentanyl. To date, they've reached more than 20,000 students.
