At its Oct. 12 meeting, the Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) Board of Education discussed drug misuse after several recent teen fentanyl overdoses, including that of 17-year-old Cade Kitchen from El Camino Real Charter High School and 15-year-old Melanie Ramos from Helen Bernstein High School in Hollywood. As part of the BHUSD Community Spotlight, the board invited Juli Shamash to speak for national Substance Abuse Prevention Month. After losing her teenage son Tyler to fentanyl in October of 2018, Shamash became an advocate for drug overdose and poisoning prevention. Shamash has been the driving force behind legislation SB 864, Tyler’s Law, which requires every hospital in California to test for fentanyl with a standard five panel urine drug test. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill on Aug. 22, and it will go into effect on Jan. 1 of 2023.
“I never thought that Tyler would die of an overdose,” Shamash said. “He was so smart. He knew everything about drugs, but fentanyl has changed everything.” Shamash will return at the end of October to share her story with BHUSD ninth graders. “If you cannot say with 100% certainty that your child will never try one drug one time, you cannot be sure that they’re safe from fentanyl,” she added.
