Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Seeks To Educate Youth On Opioid Abuse

Pleasanton CA

04 August, 2020

7:26 PM

Description

TRI-VALLEY, CA — Livermore and Pleasanton officials hope to reverse a recent trend of young lives lost too soon due to opioid abuse by releasing a short film depicting a dramatized teen overdose and educating youth about the dangers of prescription pills. The video is dedicated to Chase Frei, who was addicted to opioids and died in 2017 at just 22 years old. Mother Patti Frei is featured in the film, which is set in Foothill High School. "Chase, he walked through these very hallways and sat in these very classrooms where you sit today," she said. "Unfortunately, that is where it all started." The film, entitled "Teenage Rx," depicts a struggling teenage girl who is the victim of bullying. She purchases pills in the bathroom from another girl, takes them during school, then falls out of her chair after overdosing in class. The Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department quickly arrives, but is unable to save her in time. The classmates who once bullied her are left to grapple with her death. "One day your parents are going to wake up and they're not going to find you," a student said. The film was a collaboration between LPFD, Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District, Pleasanton Unified School District, Foothill High School Visual and Performing Arts Department, Axis Community Health and the cities of Livermore and Pleasanton, LPFD said in a news release. The idea was born after a group of LPFD personnel met in 2018, wondering what could be done to prevent such tragic deaths. The video was inspired by the Every 15 Minutes events, in which a drunk driving death is simulated on high school campuses, LPFD said. LPFD hoped to disavow teens of the notion that prescription drugs are safer because they're prescribed by a doctor. "As a first responder, you lean into a problem," LPFD Capt. Rod Leijten said in the news release. The video also instructs viewers that opioid misuse can lead to use of more dangerous drugs such as heroin, while prescription nasal spray Naloxone can immediately stop an overdose. The video comes with a discussion question guide for educators or others wishing to lead a discussion based on the film. As Frei said in the film, "education is the answer to preventing these unnecessary deaths." If you or someone you know is struggling with opioid use, LPFD considers visiting websites for the National Institute on Drug Abuse for Teens and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.