In the past two months, two students from Skyline High School have died from drug overdoses caused by pain pills laced with fentanyl.
Nearly 500 people attended the memorial service for Lucas Beirer at Faith United Methodist Church. The 16-year-old junior died on Sept. 30 from a Percocet pill laced with fentanyl.
Beirer swam for the Skyline and Issaquah swim teams. He also joined the football team during his sophomore year.
Beirer’s family has created a GoFundMe page with the goal of expanding progressive drug-prevention efforts.
Tom Beatty, also a Skyline student, died of a fentanyl overdose in August. He was also 16-years-old.
School officials from Ballard also report that one of their students, Gabriel Lilienthal, died last week after taking oxycodone that was laced with fentanyl.
Officials from the Department of Public Health of Seattle and King County say there has been an increase on overdose deaths. The upward trend has been fueled by fentanyl found in pills and powders.
So far in 2019 there has been approximately 63 deaths caused by fentanyl overdoses.
The King County Sheriff issued a warning for a certain counterfeit pill known as M30. It looks like oxycodone, is stamped in a similar way to oxycodone, but, in fact, is laced with fentanyl. The blue pill is stamped with an M on one side and 30 on the other. The sheriff’s office said that there has also been five probable overdoses from fentanyl related pills in the last few days.
In September, detectives found more than 12,000 fentanyl pills in a drug bust at a Sammamish home. Only one person was arrested.
If you or someone you know is abusing opioids, please seek help as they are becoming more dangerous every day. You can call the Washington Recovery Help Line at 1-866-789-1511. It’s a 24-hour referral system to local treatment resources for substance abuse, problem gambling, and mental health. Teen Link is also another helpline meant for teenagers at 1-866-833-6546. They are a completely confidential and anonymous help line.