Santa Clara County has been facing a tragic increase in fatal fentanyl overdoses over the past few years…
Too often, youth who buy pain medications off the streets end up with toxic pills that actually has fentanyl mixed in. The synthetic opioid, is like heroin but much stronger.
Fentanyl deaths in the rose from 29 in 2019 to 135 in 2021, according to data from the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s office.
Recently, the District Attorney’s Office launched an art contest, called “What is the Face of Fentanyl?”, to highlight the relatively-new scourge of the drug. And now the results are in…
Today, DA Jeff Rosen awarded Ann Fandli, a sophomore from Branham High School, $1,500 for the poster she created, at the “Justice for All” Award Ceremony and Art Show.
The District Attorney’s Office is planning to use her art as part of an anti-overdose campaign.
“Fentanyl is decaying lives, bright futures, families, and communities,” Fandli said, as shared in the press release.
Eunice Shin, a freshman from Westmont High School, came in second, thanks to her graphic illustration of black and white hands wrenching an in-color head with exposed muscles—symbolizing the impact of the drug.
She was awarded $1,000.
Zoe Chew, a freshman from Prospect High School, in Saratoga, took third in the contest—and walked away with $500.
“If the pill is not from your prescription, it could be hiding enough fentanyl to kill,” states the message on the informative work, calling fentanyl “the wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
All the other entrants received Starbucks gift cards for participating.
“A child died in this county after taking less than half a pill of fentanyl,” DA Rosen said. “Now multiply that tragedy by tens of thousands and you have a true portrait of the plague of our time. These young artists are giving a face to that plague and helping us try to save lives.”
