GRANITE BAY, Calif. — Granite Bay mom Laura Collanton remembers her son Spencer Newsom as a beautiful kid, and a lover of music, singing and dancing.
“Spencer was just vivacious and outgoing … everyone says their kid is outgoing, but he truly was,” said Collanton.
She says travel sparked his soul and the love of his siblings kept him grounded, though his biggest passion was baseball.
All those dreams came to an end for the 20-year-old on Sept. 21, 2020, when he died of fentanyl poisoning. Collanton held back tears as she shared the day her son died from fentanyl poisoning.
She says her son has missed work, which was unusual, so she, her husband and Spencer's dad went to his Roseville apartment.
Though she asked police for a welfare check, Collanton says law enforcement couldn’t break down the door because there wasn't a crime. That's when her husband and Spencer's father had to find a way in on their own, scaling the balcony to get to their child.
“We opened the room and he just looked like he was lying on his bed asleep. His feet were on the floor, he was dressed in his clothes from last night we assumed but he was not responsive and then the police came rushing in and that was really traumatic because I didn’t get to touch him or hold him. They pushed us out of the room and I didn’t get to see him again [until] he was in his coffin,” said Collanton.
Three years later, law enforcement hasn't been able to make an arrest or make an exact connection to her son's death.
“Number one, enforcement and execution. We need to stop those who are distributing in our community and stop those from using it. Make sure that where it’s coming in from can stop it,” said Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire.
Gire says prosecuting and finding someone guilty when it comes to fentanyl poisoning is incredibly difficult.
“Fentanyl powder is manufactured in China and typically shipped to Mexico. It is then pressed into pills, typically by the cartels in Mexico, then distributed and shipped to the United States,” said Gire.
But how is fentanyl getting into our communities and killing our children? Gire says like many drugs there are multiple lines of entry, but what makes fentanyl different is the pills are small and easy to smuggle.
“There are networks of dealers in just about every community, particularly around the Central Valley corridor, so dismantling and disturbing those is what we are trying to do,” said Gire.
According to the California Department of Public Health, there's been a sharp increase in fentanyl-related overdose deaths since 2017.
Based on preliminary 2021 data, there were 6,843 opioid-related overdose deaths in California; 5,722 of these deaths were related to fentanyl.
“I think the message is no matter the age you can still call your mama, you can reach out to somebody you trust to say, 'Gosh I don’t have this, I’m anxious, I’m worried, I’m stressed, I’m depressed,'" said Collanton.
Fentanyl is up to 50x more potent than heroin and 100x more potent than morphine, according to the California Department of Public Health.
In 2021, there were 224 fentanyl-related overdose deaths among teens, ages 15–19 years old, in California.
It's why Collanton and her family want people to understand the devastation linked to the drug and also educate young people to receive the mental health services they need instead of turning to a pill.
Watch more on ABC10: Sacramento organization aims to get Narcan into the hands of teens
