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FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno County has made large advancement successful the combat against fentanyl, with overdose deaths dropping to a fiveyear low.
"We're astatine a amended place," District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp said. "We're improving."
Data from the DA's bureau shows 66 fentanyl deaths successful 2025, down 42 percent from the all-time precocious of 114 successful 2021.
"I deliberation astatine that time, we conscionable wanted to halt it," Smittcamp said. "We conscionable wanted to marque definite it didn't increase."
Behind the overdose numbers are radical similar Elaine Hudson, who mislaid her son, Frankie DePrima, to fentanyl six years ago.
"He was your basal 20-year-old kid," Hudson said.
She showed Action News the pills DePrima got hours earlier helium died. He thought it was Xanax, but 1 was laced with fentanyl.
"Fentanyl doesn't (care) if you're educated, not educated, rich, poor, (or) what vicinity you unrecorded in," Hudson said.
His decease came astatine the commencement of the pandemic, arsenic overdoses surged.
The situation sparked a nationalist consciousness campaign, prompting officials to erect billboards crossed the county.
They enactment Frankie's look connected 1 of them.
"I judge that seeing a section look connected that billboard had much of an impact," Hudson said.
"They are faces to individuals that person succumbed to fentanyl overdoses," Senior Deputy District Attorney Kendall Reynolds said.
Reynolds prosecuted the county's archetypal fentanyl execution lawsuit past year, erstwhile a assemblage agreed that knowingly selling a deadly dose of fentanyl is murder.
"There's nary uncertainty successful my caput that this condemnation has had an effect connected the decreasing numbers," Reynolds said. "We could ne'er beryllium it. It's surely anecdotal, but it means thing successful this community."
The condemnation led to a caller signifier of the campaign, shifting from warnings astir fentanyl to consequences.
The connection adjacent reached the courtroom, wherever the justice referenced it during sentencing.
"He made a remark that everybody, beauteous much, successful the courtroom had seen the billboards," Reynolds said. "It saturated Fresno County."
Work connected the 2nd fentanyl execution lawsuit is already underway, and Smittcamp says she is motivated to scope zero overdose deaths.
"We can't instrumentality our ft disconnected the pedal," Smittcamp said. "We can't conscionable say, 'Oh, well, hey, great, we're down 42 percent.' We conscionable person to support grinding, and we person to support pushing."
For quality updates, travel Gabe Ferris connected Facebook, X and Instagram.
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