HTLA: Episode 47- Surviving Fentanyl: An Organization By Students, For Students

Brian De Los Santos  00:00

Hey, everyone. This episode contains some strong language and depictions of overdose. We'll have resources in the show notes if you need help.

William Macdonald  00:09

[music in] A lot of people I knew overdosed doing substances that contained fentanyl within them.

Isabella Gianatiempo  00:14

People who maybe are going to college for the first time, or their friend passes them something under the desk saying let's go to the bathroom and let's go try this powder.

Brian De Los Santos  00:21

Fentanyl overdoses are becoming more and more common in LA. Overdose deaths in the county have jumped nearly 1300% in the past five years. People might not even know the drug they're using is contaminated with fentanyl.

B  00:37

I remember telling my friend, “This feels different.” When I passed out, he immediately knew, Like holy shit. I need to get the Narcan.

Brian De Los Santos  00:47

I'm Brian De Los Santos and this is How To LA, the show where we talk about complex issues that affect all of us. Today, we're gonna talk about what this epidemic looks like on the individual and personal level and some solutions that can help keep people alive.

Isabella Gianatiempo  01:04

In our Narcan program, we have trained high schools, universities, rehabilitation centers...

B  01:12

In terms of just being casually mentioned in conversation amidst my peers, no. It wasn't really talked about.

Isabella Gianatiempo  01:19

Fentanyl isn't going away anytime soon. But the way we respond to it is what we can change. [music out]

B  01:28

It's easy to just feel detached from it because you know, you'll see a news story, you'll be like, Oh well, that's not me. Oh well, it never happened to any of my friends. That's not my world. The second it becomes a part of your world, it's like holy shit, this is real.

Brian De Los Santos  01:41

This is a student we're gonna call 'B'. He's a college student here in LA. We're not using his full name to protect his identity.

Brian De Los Santos  01:49

Can you describe what happened for me as much as you can remember?

B  01:52

I don't remember much. The day itself was very hazy. I was at a party with my friend. We did some coke that hadn't been tested. I remember telling my friend, “This feels different.” Like this heavy wave of euphoria and energy and everything was something I never experienced before. So we were a little nervous about that. Next thing I knew, I woke up in a ambulance. They told me that I had overdosed on fentanyl. So it was laced with fentanyl.

Brian De Los Santos  02:23

So is fentanyl something you've used before?

B  02:26

No. Yeah, that was my first experience. And my last.

Brian De Los Santos  02:29

How did you feel in that moment, not really having the memory of what happened and just kinda waking up like that?

B  02:37

It's almost- it kinda makes the experience surreal. It's like it was a dream. You know, it's it's really weird. I mean, I would say the most impactful part for me was being home that night. It was still in my system. I had like double vision. It was hard to stand up, like I had no balance. I was just throwing up all night. It was absolutely awful.

Brian De Los Santos  03:02

B was lucky. He had a friend nearby who had access to Narcan and was trained on how to use it.

B  03:08

It was pretty much immediately after I passed out because I was with some friends. They administered Narcan and CPR. Thankfully, because they were so quick, there was no point in time at which like I stopped breathing or anything. The Narcan was administered probably like a minute after I passed out.

Brian De Los Santos  03:27

[music in] The Narcan provided to B came from an organization called T.A.C.O. That's Team Awareness Combating Overdose. They're a nonprofit started by students at USC, but now they have chapters at dozens of universities across the country. They distribute harm reduction supplies like test strips and Narcan and train people how to use them. B is just one of dozens of their success stories.

Isabella Gianatiempo  03:55

In June of 2020, overdose deaths were in the double digits at USC. [music out] After our founding, there has not been a single overdose death.

Brian De Los Santos  04:05

This is Isabella Gianatiempo. She also goes by Isa.

Isabella Gianatiempo  04:09

And I am the CEO and co-founder of T.A.C.O. Inc.

Brian De Los Santos  04:13

She says B's story, unfortunately, isn't all that unique.

Isabella Gianatiempo  04:17

Overdose can happen to anyone. It could be somebody who uses drugs often or it could be somebody who goes to college and their very first night, they try a pill or a powder not knowing what it is. And it turns out that it's contaminated with fentanyl. Our main primary goal is to reduce overdose and overdose related deaths. And the way we do that is by providing harm reduction materials, fentanyl test strips and Narcan, which is a drug that temporarily reverses an opioid overdose.

Brian De Los Santos  04:48

So what happened that made you think, Okay, I'm gonna be this one person that's gonna take this into my hands and try to change what's happening.

Isabella Gianatiempo  04:56

We saw the drastic increase in overdose deaths- myself and cofounders of T.A.C.O. There are no educational resources that existed at the time for us at USC. So we decided to create our own. We started in June of 2020, five neuroscience students, and that's how T.A.C.O. was born. [music in] We saw the value of how to break complex scientific literature down and understand and digest it. We decided to take that and educate our peers and students around us about drugs in a neutral scientific way. What happens when certain drugs enter your body, how it affects your metabolism, how it affects your brain, what kind of chemicals are released. It's not opinion whatsoever; it's simply fact. What matters here is that people are dying from drugs. We believe that informed users will be safe users. We want to make sure that at the end of the day, kids wake up in the morning, and that they don't go to high school and their friend is like, Hey, you should try this. And they do and unfortunately, they pass away. That's kind of the basis for any kind of harm reduction. It's not encouraging or condemning drug use, simply just making sure that people can make the best choices for themselves.

Brian De Los Santos  06:19

Can you tell me more about the process of getting this started? And what was the reaction like from students and the community members themselves?

Isabella Gianatiempo  06:27

At first, we would pass out fentanyl test strips. No one would come up to our stand. They'd be like, giving us sideways looks. If somebody did come grab a strip, they would kind of grab it and then quickly run away. But I would say about a year in, the culture had really taken a 180. You see the test strips everywhere at USC now. They're even in campus lounges. They're in dorms. They're at every single sorority/fraternity. Apartments on campus. I see them like even just in random bathrooms. Now we're giving out 200 strips an hour at our stand at USC where we couldn't even pass out five in an hour about two years ago.

Brian De Los Santos  07:08

[street ambi] We went to one of T.A.C.O.'s distribution sites where they pass out test strips on a street corner near USC. [in background someone asks: Do you want any test strips?] People are walking by in groups or solo or rolling around on their skateboards. [people talking: Do you want some uh, test strips? Test strips? Sure, man.] It's broad daylight. A lot of people are around, and people are having open conversations about how and when to use the strips. [in background: Hey, you guys want some test strips?]

Unidentified Speaker  07:31

I actually took them last time, uh but I don't do coke, so...

William Macdonald  07:34

Um, it's for any substance. Anything that you're not gonna get from pharmacy.

Brian De Los Santos  07:38

Isa says this shift in interest is huge. [music in] But they're not done. [in background: Hey, do you want a test strip?] They still are fighting against stigma. [music out] And it's an uphill battle.

Isabella Gianatiempo  07:47

We're trying our best to normalize these and get them anywhere and everywhere. So when you do go out to a bar or club, you don't have to bring your own fentanyl test trip with you. It'll actually just be provided for you in the bathroom, or maybe on your way out the door. Our goal is that there's easy access to this life saving material.

Brian De Los Santos  08:11

I wanted to ask B- If there was one piece of knowledge he gained from his experience that he wished he could just give out to everyone, what would that be?

B  08:19

You can always tell your kids, Don't do drugs, don't do drugs, don't do drugs. That's how we all grew up. Don't do drugs. It can only go so far. That kid can go to a party and be drunk and be given some drugs and then that's that, you know. So I think that it's important for people to just test their drugs, right when they get it. Don't, you know, wait 'til you're hammered at a party and Oh, you know, let's try this now, like I haven't tested it yet. No, like, just test it right when you get it. Like, for example, a month ago? A group of guys that I knew were going to a concert and wanted to take some Molly beforehand. I had a bunch of test strips, and I walked up and I was like, You guys need to test this. But at the same time, they were already testing it. Like, especially recently, it's become a very positive culture of testing drugs and actually being aware about this, which is a good thing, especially because a few of those Molly pills had come across as positive for fentanyl. [music in] If you do decide you're gonna do drugs or something, test it. Be safe. If you're gonna make a dumb decision, at least execute it smartly. Testing that cost them oh like what? 5 - 10 bucks to throw away the pills. If they hadn't tested it, they could have taken a trip to the ER or passed away.

Brian De Los Santos  09:45

We said it before. Fentanyl isn't going anywhere, and overdoses can really happen to anyone. But it's only really been in the past couple of months that LA County and city officials have acknowledged it's a huge problem. Last month, a bunch of county and city officials came together to start coming up with solutions. For its part, LAUSD committed to giving Narcan to every school in the district.

Isabella Gianatiempo  10:12

I think that people realize the power of Narcan that if they had this small nasal spray tucked away in a cabinet somewhere, their students could still be alive. [music out] It's quite unfortunate that it did take some deaths in order to get there. But I will say that the fact that these schools are now supporting it and carrying it, training staff on how to recognize an overdose and what to do, I think that's pretty incredible.

Brian De Los Santos  10:42

[music in] It's just really interesting to see how young people are doing their part, to try to make something safer. And it is like community building. It is helping each other out. And seeing young folks really take on this work because they want to make sure that their friends and their family are safe, it was kind of inspirational. If, you know, people at home aren't doing this for them, I'm gonna to do it for my friends. I'm gonna do it for my family. I'm influencing my inner circle and letting them know there are resources and there are ways to be safer.

B  11:15

T.A.C.O. indirectly saved my life. So I feel like I owe a lot to them. I mean, if I'd- I'd be so mad at myself if I had just ended it right there. Like that would fucking suck. So [laughing] I've just been working with T.A.C.O. to help spread awareness and I've been contributing to the organization because it's, it's really important. [music out]

Kala Shute  11:44

[music in] My name is Kala Shute and I'm the Chief Communications Officer of T.A.C.O. Inc. During COVID 2020, my really close friend from high school actually overdosed on fentanyl. And then a year later, another friend from my high school had overdosed on fentanyl. We ended up getting to about six students from my high school.

William Macdonald  12:11

My name is William Macdonald.

Sophie Ignon  12:12

My name is Sophie Ignon.

William Macdonald  12:14

Right now we're in the residential area on the row of USC and we're handing out fentanyl strips as a part of T.A.C.O. USC.

Sophie Ignon  12:20

Most important thing I've learned from T.A.C.O.- This is sounding really corny because it's kind of like our motto I guess. But it really is just to talk, talk about it. [William: It's like taco 'bout it.] Taco 'bout it. I didn't actually say it like that this time. But I think it is important to not just brush these important issues under the rug. [street ambi] That's when people die. So I think it's really important to just be honest and talk about it.

William Macdonald  12:43

I grew up in a kind of weird area of Connecticut, but there was a lot of fentanyl overdoses just due to fentanyl laced drugs in my community. A lot of people I knew overdosed due to like doing substances that contained fentanyl within them. The second I heard about T.A.C.O., I decided to join up with them and try and make my own impact on the community.

Brian De Los Santos  13:05

That's it for today, folks. Thanks for listening and don't forget- Rate and subscribe to How To LA on wherever you get your podcasts. By the way, we'll have some more resources in our show notes. So go check those out. I'm Brian De Los Santos. See you mañana. [music out]