Mother Helps Pass Bill Requiring California Emergency Rooms to Include Fentanyl Testing
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Juli Shamash experienced a life-altering tragedy in 2018 when her son died ingesting a pill laced with fentanyl, a highly lethal synthetic opioid most people were unfamiliar with. Now Shamash has successfully advocated for a bill that mandates fentanyl tests to be included in drug screening in emergency rooms.
Authored by Sen. Melissa Melendez (R–Lake Elsinore), California Senate Bill 864, also known as Tyler’s Law, was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Aug. 22. The law will take effect Jan. 1, 2023.
The law is named after Shamash’s son Tyler, who was 19. She said that the night before Tyler passed away, he was sent to a hospital due to a suspected overdose. The hospital ran drug tests, but they all turned out negative.
Later, she found out hospital drug tests did not cover fentanyl due to it being a synthetic opioid.
After Tyler’s death, Shamash wanted to prevent others from suffering the same heartache, so she and her family started the Drug Awareness Foundation to educate people about the dangers of fentanyl.
This year, Shamash wanted to do more by getting the fentanyl testing law passed.
“I did not know anything about getting a bill passed,” she told NTD, a sister media of The Epoch Times. “I was a stay-at-home mom. Before that, I was an elementary school teacher, and I probably didn’t pay enough attention in 10th-grade civics class, but I learned quickly.”
Shamash reached out to California’s state senators one by one until Melendez responded and agreed to introduce the bill in the Senate.
Shamash met with Dr. Roneet Lev, an ER doctor and addiction specialist at Scripps Mercy Hospital, to sponsor the bill. During the legislative process, they realized doctors may not know that fentanyl requires an additional test rather than the one for regular opioids.
“They’re just testing for natural opioids like heroin and things like that,” Shamash said.
The CDC describes fentanyl as being 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, it is the leading cause of death in the United States for people ages 18 to 24.
Fentanyl can be mixed with methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, or vaping products, as well as counterfeit Xanax, hydrocodone, or oxycodone. Many people who fatally overdose on fentanyl do so unknowingly.
“One little mistake can be fatal,” Lev said. “There is no safe drug supply unless you get medications from a pharmacy.”
“I think the most important thing is to start talking to your kids when they’re young, [telling them] that you never take any drugs that are not prescribed to you,” Shamash said. “You just can’t experiment. Those days are long gone. One pill will kill you.”
Shamash wants to have a similar law passed in every state and is now looking for a sponsor from the U.S. Congress.
Reporting by NTD’s Jackie Rios
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