Moms Urge Newsom to Save California Kids and Shut Down Open Drug Markets
New Ads Feature 2 Full-Size Billboards on I-80, West of the Harbor Blvd Exit, and a Mobile Billboard Driving Around State Capitol
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, MAY 12, 2022, SACRAMENTO, CA - Mothers Against Drug Deaths rallied today at the Capitol building to urge Governor Gavin Newsom to act and solve the state's out-of-control fentanyl epidemic. The mothers unveiled a new billboard advertising campaign at the press conference designed to pressure the Governor to act.
With images depicting a “tent city drug scene” replacing a National Forest campground, the billboard ads read, “Welcome to Camp Fentanyl... Open to Kids Everywhere”, and “Governor Newsom, shut down open-air drug markets now”.
The billboards are located on Interstate 80, just West of Harbor Blvd Exit. One ad faces eastbound, and the other faces westbound. A third ad featuring a mobile billboard was also on-site at the press conference and will circle the Capitol building and other locations for an undisclosed timeframe.
"Over 15 Californians die every day from a drug overdose - some are young, curious teens experimenting for their first time. Never has the risk been so great for first-time drug users, and the first time can mean death. Does your child understand that" asked Jacqui Berlinn, co-founder of MADD.
The effort to enlist Newsom follows months of ignored pleas for help from the mothers to Mayor London Breed of San Francisco. The cries for her to do something culminated with a blistering advertising campaign that condemned San Francisco's out-of-control fentanyl epidemic and Mayor Breed's lack of progress in addressing it.
"My son Trevor will always be 18 years old because of overdosing from illicit drugs", stated grieving mom Michelle Leopold of Marin County CA. "As a San Francisco small business owner, I'm shocked at seeing open air drug markets allowed to flourish in the city without ANY consequences. We MUST do more, Governor Newsom!" Leopold added that Trevor started at Gavin Newsom's alma mater, Redwood High School.
Last month, MADD ran a billboard advertisement in Union Square for a month and was received well by the public despite its controversy.
At the press conference and in a letter sent to the Governor, the moms, some of whom have lost their children to fentanyl, called on the Governor to “save California’s kids” by issuing a State of Emergency and closing all open-air drug markets throughout the state.
The letter reads:
As mothers whose children have died from a drug overdose, are struggling with addiction and homelessness, or are at risk in California, we urge you to call a state of emergency and close California’s illegal open drug markets immediately.
California’s open drug markets, such as the Tenderloin in San Francisco, operate illegally in plain sight in front of public officials, residents and their children and tourists, in contravention of California law. Any time of the day, any day of the week, people are dealing and using illicit drugs such as illicit fentanyl, meth, and other lethal substances out in the open. There is zero barrier preventing anyone, including children, from entering these markets and succumbing to the drugs, as we can all see from the recent deaths of two young teens (16-year-old Victoria Moran-Hidalgo and the 15-year-old Pacific Grove boy) lured in to buy or use drugs in your illegal, open drug markets.
“This drug overdose epidemic should lay at the Governor's feet”, said Gina McDonald. “Our open drug sales and use overrun cities and towns. Our mayors and county officials are overwhelmed. Drug encampments and open drug markets line city streets. This is not hyperbole. Look at San Francisco. Look at the skid row. Look at Fresno. Look at Santa Cruz. Look under almost any freeway overpass and tell me why this is allowed to continue. This involves ALL of California and calls for our Governor to do more than a few encampments, photo cleanup photo ops, and passing the buck to county offices. These are your people Mr Newsom. Do something.”
But MADD isn’t the only person or organization disappointed in the Governor’s lack of action. The letter continues:
For parents like us who have a front-row seat watching this tragedy unfold in slow motion, it’s frankly unbelievable that the US Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Agency’s the office issued a warning about California’s permissive attitude about open, illicit drug dealing almost two years ago. As Wade R Shannon, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA, wrote on September 30, 2020: “The epicenter of this fentanyl disaster is in the Tenderloin neighborhood in San Francisco…. The Tenderloin neighborhood is also home to an open-air drug market spreading death throughout the Bay Area. The drug dealing that is openly oppressing the Tenderloin is quietly undermining neighborhoods across San Francisco, Oakland, San Mateo, Sonoma, Marin County, etc.”
“The epidemic and the open-air drug markets aren’t only killing California’s economy; they’re killing our children”, said Berlinn.
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