New Tyler’s Law aims to curb fentanyl deaths with ER screening

When you lose a child, the what-ifs can be paralyzing. Juli Shamash is part of an unfortunately robust army that’s channeling that agony into change, to spare others from ever having to endure it.

Her son, Tyler, was 19 when he overdosed at a sober-living facility in Beverlywood in 2018. It turns out that the drugs Tyler took contained deadly fentanyl — a single sugar packet of the stuff is enough to kill 500 people — but he was never screened for fentanyl at the emergency room.

“Had it been common practice to do a separate tox screen for fentanyl back in October of 2018, Tyler may still be alive today,” Shamash said by email.

Enter Tyler’s Law, authored by Sen. Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Aug. 22. It simply requires a general acute care hospital to include fentanyl testing in its urine drug screenings, and takes effect Jan 1.

“We are confident that this bill will save lives and spare others from the heartache of losing a loved one,” Shamash said.

Folks are surprised to learn that routine drug screens don’t always capture fentanyl use, and many of those who take it never meant to — instead thinking they bought legit prescription pills such as Xanax or Oxycodone. Fentanyl is in just about every street drug as well, from methamphetamine to cocaine.

Shamash, of Los Angeles, is working with an emergency physician from San Diego to make routine ER screening for fentanyl standard in every state. It can convince people to carry naloxone, alert friends who may be using, ditch suspect pills (which can now be legally tested for fentanyl in California) and motivate them to seek help. It can also help law enforcement prosecute drug dealers and help outpatient clinics with data, Shamash said.

Tyler was a brilliant kid who could fix anything, but he struggled with anxiety and couldn’t see his own worth. He wanted so very much to fit in. His family spent hundreds of thousands of dollars sending him to wilderness programs and boarding schools, private treatment programs and sober living homes.

He got the money to buy the drugs that killed him from a “friend” who brokered him to a program in Laguna Hills that accepted Tyler’s insurance — and received $2,000 for his troubles, Shamash said. Tyler got a cut of the take.

Shamash — and a coalition of more than 50 groups including the California Hospital Association, California Medical Association, county health directors, public safety officials and family-based organizations — wants to forge a new path forward on addiction treatment and behavioral health issues. Clearly, with more than 100,000 drug-related deaths in a single year, it’s desperately needed.

The governor’s new CARE courts, which would compel people with serious mental health issues into care and housing, may be part of that change. Be Well Orange County is one of the programs that’s getting it right, according to the coalition, Behavioral Health Action.

One of the important takeaways: “If you’re in the public behavioral health system because you don’t have insurance, or you’re in Medicaid, you have a better chance of getting recovery-based treatment than you do in a private program,” said Steve Fields, the Progress Foundation’s executive director, when the coalition’s new Blueprint for Behavioral Health was unveiled last year.

Shamash wishes she had known that when her son was struggling. But a story told, she has said, is a life saved.

Source: Orange County Register