Bay Area family’s loss spurs campaign against ‘fentapills’

When Avery Kalafatas’ cousin died in 2020, it was a blow that put her on a path to help other teens avoid the same fate.

Kalafatas, 17, of Ross said her cousin, Aidan Mullin, took a pill he got from a friend. Mullin thought the pill was Percocet, a prescription pain medication.

Instead, it was a fake prescription pill laced with fentanyl — a synthetic opioid that is like morphine, but 100 times stronger. Mullin, 18, was dead within minutes, Kalafatas said.

“It wasn’t until his death that I realized how pervasive prescription drug abuse and associated fentanyl poisoning have become,” said Kalafatas, who attends a private high school outside Marin.

“In fact, while much has been written about COVID-19, the media has focused far too little on the fact that fentanyl has taken more lives of Americans between the ages of 18 and 35 than COVID and its variants,” she said.

That dynamic could be changing in Marin.

According to the California Overdose Surveillance Database, Marin had 62 overdose deaths in 2021, up from 30 deaths in 2018. At least half involved fentanyl, officials said.

Dr. Matt Willis, the Marin County public health officer, said the increase in overdose deaths disproportionately affects younger Marin residents.

“For any Marin residents under the age of 60, there was a 10 times higher risk of dying from a drug overdose than the risk of dying of COVID in 2021,” Willis said.

As the coronavirus pandemic starts to wind down, Willis said, the county will begin increasing its efforts to boost awareness of and prevent drug overdoses.

Kalafatas is forming a nonprofit, Project1Life.org, to spread the word about what she and others call “fentapills,” black market drugs that are made to look like legitimate prescription pain pills or anti-anxiety drugs such as Percocet, Xanax, Adderall or Oxycontin. Instead, they are lethal fentanyl delivery bombs.

Fentapills don’t care if the person taking them is an addict in a low-income urban neighborhood, or a young person in an affluent Bay Area suburb popping a pill as a way to unwind after finals, said Los Gatos resident Brennan Mullin, Aidan Mullin’s father and Kalafatas’ uncle.

“I think there’s a misperception that this is some sort of Tenderloin drug,” Mullin said, referring to the San Francisco neighborhood known for drugs and crime.

“It is, for certain, happening there,” he said. “But it’s also in Los Gatos, in Marin County — wealthy enclaves of America with well-raised, loving families, with children that have good educations and are smart and are off to college, or in college.”

“This isn’t some troubled kid who’s a recluse — these are kids who are going places and who have strong upbringings,” he said.

Mullin, a Google executive and 1989 San Rafael High School graduate, has joined the board of SongforCharlie.org, a nonprofit formed by Ed Ternan, whose son Charlie also died from taking a fentapill.

Ternan spoke to students at Branson School in Ross earlier this year, Mullin said. Song for Charlie is also pushing out the message on Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and other social media, said Mullin.

“This is not a story of ‘don’t do drugs,’” he said. “It’s a story of: Bottom line, do not take any pill that you receive from somebody — unless it’s a prescription from a doctor.”

The goal is to “make the majority of people from college age to about 25 aware,” Mullin said.

“This epidemic is tragic, and it disproportionately affects young people,” he said.

While the campaign’s top priority is to reduce demand for fentapills, Mullin said the nonprofit is also compassionate about teens or young people who might be having mental health challenges in the normal course of growing up and might be looking to various substances to self-medicate or just to experiment.

“I have no judgment on that,” Mullin said. “There is a mental health crisis among youth in the United States. I’m equally as interested in why a person would choose to take a pill in the first place.”

Since 2013, counterfeit prescription pills made of fentanyl have caused thousands of deaths in the U.S. Initially, fentanyl made by labs in China was easily shipped to dealers in the U.S., who made them into counterfeit pills using presses and stamps.

Unlike a brick of heroin or a bag of cocaine, synthetic fentapills are undetectable by dogs and can easily be sent in the mail.

Increasingly, Mexican drug cartels have seized upon this opportunity, and are flooding the U.S. market with them. Hundreds of millions of fentapills are available, selling for $20 to $30 a pop.

Approximately 10,000 Americans died in 2020 alone after taking a single pill that they believed to be a legitimate prescription medication but was a fentapill.

Earlier this year, at least two forums were held in Marin highlighting personal stories from Marin teens and families who lost loved ones or school friends to fentanyl poisoning. Some of the Marin teens who spoke at the forums have signed up be volunteer “ambassadors” for Kalafatas’ nonprofit.

“We are working under the leadership of Marin County Health and Human Services on a four-pronged approach that was inspired by a group of Marin student journalists at a March 29 student-led discussion on the fentanyl crisis,” said Mary Jane Burke, Marin superintendent of schools, in an email.

“The four areas of focus to broaden awareness are parent and family education and outreach, Narcan distribution and training, expanded curriculum and wellness and mental health supports,” she said.

Narcan, or naloxone, is an emergency drug that can rapidly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

Burke added that she and Willis sent a letter to graduating seniors this year and their families, alerting them of the risks of the fentapills.

“In the end, we know it will take a village to help broaden awareness around the increasing prevalence and threat of fentanyl — particularly to young people in our community and across the nation,” Burke said.

“We know that our law enforcement partners are working with the DEA to do everything they can to find and prosecute distributors,” she added, referring to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. “The more we can increase awareness and education, the better chance we will have of avoiding the tragic loss of life due to fentanyl overdoses.”

Ross resident Hadley Mullin — Kalafatas’ mother and Aidan Mullin’s aunt — said she hopes all the efforts will help other families avoid the loss her family has endured in the last two years. She is a civic activist in Marin and serves on various boards and foundations.

“I urge all Marin parents to be more cautious than ever,” she said. “To be more honest with your teens and young adults about how dangerous it is to take any pills or any form of adulterated drugs.”

Mullin said parents of highly educated, athletic and outgoing kids might not think of their teens as the type to take street drugs. Or to pop a pill at a party.

“They need to realize that one pill can kill,” she said. “I want to make sure that Marin parents have their eyes and ears wide open.”

Bay Area News Group contributed to this report.