While federal agents are seizing fentanyl at record levels, a mother who lost two teens to the deadly drug is speaking out to try and spare other families from “the worst pain possible.”
18-year-old Tyler Gordon and his younger sister Jenna, 16, died in the bedrooms of their home in Riverside County within 10 months of each other. They were both killed by fentanyl-related overdoses.
“It really is the invisible killer,” their mother, Tammy Lyon-Gordon, told KTLA’s Kareen Wynter. “They had no idea they were taking fentanyl. To have them die at home. A place they felt safe haunts me every day.”
In 2020, Tyler took what he thought was Percocet after buying it off Snapchat. The drug, however, contained fentanyl and caused the teen to overdose.
Jenna died not even a year later after unknowingly taking counterfeit Xanax, which investigators told Lyon-Gordon was pure fentanyl – a synthetic opioid 100 times more potent than morphine.
“This never should have happened,” said the grieving mother. “It still doesn’t seem real to me.”
Fentanyl is a pharmaceutical drug physicians can prescribe for severe pain. However, its illegal use has fueled an epidemic with criminals manufacturing and selling the drug as it’s cheap, easy to produce and highly addictive.
California has one of the highest rates of fatal overdoses involving fentanyl with most shipments trafficked into the US from Mexico, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Deputy Special Agent in Charge for the DEA, Anthony Chrysantis, warns the public of fentanyl’s discrete presence.
“This drug that’s coming in from the Cartels is out there and you need to be careful because if you get your hands on the wrong stuff you can die,” said Chrysantis.
The DEA says seizures of fentanyl, both the powder and pill form, are at record levels. Federal agents seized over 29,000 pounds of fentanyl in 2023, nearly doubling the intake amount over the past two years.
In Los Angeles County, fatal fentanyl overdoses and poisonings soared by 1652% – from 109 deaths in 2016 to 1910 deaths in 2022, according to the Department of Public Health.
However, the increase rate slowed significantly in 2023 with a smaller 3% bump to 1970 deaths plateauing county-wide.
The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department’s numbers are more significant to date. LASD services unincorporated communities and roughly half of the cities in the L.A. County region. Fentanyl overdose and poisoning deaths are down 30% in their reporting districts.
“Since 2023 we’ve recovered over 3 million fentanyl pills,” said Lt. Bobby Dean, who oversees the Sheriff’s Department’s Overdose Response Task Force. “Over 150 kilos of powdered fentanyl – that’s enough fentanyl to kill the entire state of California.”
The Task Force investigates death cases from fentanyl overdoses and poisonings and works with the federal government on prosecutions that carry a stiffer sentence.
“So it’s a phenomenal deterrent. We have over 27 cases in various stages of prosecution,” said Dean. “All of those individuals are looking at a 20-year mandatory minimum.”
The statistics show that every drug seizure, arrest and conviction is saving lives.
“We’re taking everything we can off the streets, trying to make them safer. But these synthetic opioids, there’s just an endless amount of them,” warned Chrysantis. “As long as there’s money to be made, they’re going to be out there.”
For those who may not get the help in time, like Tyler and Jenna Gordon, their mom has a powerful message to spare other families the heartbreak.
“I’m living with the worst pain possible,” stated Lyon-Gordon. “Speak with your kids about the dangers. Don’t lose them to this drug.”