Mikael was found unresponsive in his bedroom the evening of 09/07/2020 by his older sister Alyssia, EMT’s were called but were unable to revive him, she then had to make what was probably the hardest phone call of her life, to her mom to me to tell me her baby brother was dead. I dropped everything and drove for what seem a lifetime even though the house was about 20 minutes away from me, I remember thinking if this is a joke what a horrible joke to play on your mother but when I exited the freeway and turned that corner and seen EMT’s and the Fire Department I knew this was really happening my child was gone. As I approached the house the front door was already open and as I entered the paramedics were standing at his bedroom door and advised me, I could not see him until the coroner arrived. There I was standing in one room while my son lay dead in another just a few feet from me and there wasn’t anything I could do, I just wanted to hold him and I was sure he would come back to us, but when the coroner arrived and brought my son out in a body bag, I knew my baby was never coming back, my child was dead. At the time we didn’t know anything about Fentanyl but suspected it was a pill he had taken because he had previously used Percocet and Xanax and some pink foam was on his mouth when they brought him out, later and I mean 4-5 months later when we got the coroner’s report it had confirmed that Mikael had a lethal dose of Fentanyl in his system, no questions were asked as to why he would have such a large dose and no investigation was opened, death certificate listed his cause of death and accidental overdose. The lethal menace of fentanyl does not discriminate. It threatens people of all backgrounds, ages, and socioeconomic statuses. Sacramento County is not immune to this deadly scourge. In 2022, the county witnessed a staggering 2,829 overdoses, and the numbers continue to rise with 1,730 overdoses already recorded in 2023. The gravity of the situation is further emphasized by the alarming increase in fatalities. In 2021, 215 lives were lost due to fentanyl poisoning, which tragically rose to 226 in 2022. Disturbingly, the death toll has reached 124 in just the first seven months of 2023. Drug dealers are killing our loved ones and getting away with it, this has to stop, elected officials need to step up and put an end to this pandemic now!