i'm damian trujillo, and today another epidemic. this one is a powerful drug. we'll get into it on your "comunidad del valle." ♪♪♪ damian: we begin today with the annual carnaval that's heading back to san francisco. with us on "comunidad del valle" once again is rodrigo durán, the executive director of the entire planning process of the carnaval. this is your baby rodrigo. welcome back to the show. rodrigo durán: it's been given birth to for 44 years. i just so happen to be the father this year.

no, we're very excited. carnaval, like i said, it's a longstanding tradition in san francisco and the bay area as a whole. you know, we celebrate latino, latinx, caribbean, african diaspora tradition. so, we're ready for saturday, may 28th and 29th for the festival, and then the grand parade on sunday, may 29th. damian: and so things are a little different this year, because they were different the last two years. you still had carnaval, but it was kind of more laid back. this one involves a parade, which is kind of like the signature of carnaval. tell us about how you're able to go back to normal, if you will, this year. rodrigo: correct. in the last two years, we were very intentional with the type of carnaval that we were producing. and by that, we meant that we downscaled to a three-block resource fair instead of a full-blown celebration. because we needed to take care of our community, we had covid vaccines, covid testing, a job fair.

we had a health fair, as well. and so that went really well, but we stayed within the parameters that the city allowed us to provide these resources. now we're transitioning back to what was normally our footprint, which was 17 blocks up harrison, between 16th and 24th and the side streets. so, we're expecting a good turnout. we're hoping for great weather. that we cannot control. but other than that, we're looking at having our great stages, our food, our dancing, still some resources for our community. and so, yeah, we're bringing that back. damian: all right, we do have some video. there we go, we're showing a video of the past carnaval, when it was normal a couple of years ago. talk about the colors and the ambiance and just the pride of cultura, if you will, that is carnaval. rodrigo: yeah, you know, this year, now that you mention, colors, our theme is "colores de amor: inclusivity, family, and community." and we're looking at bringing the many facets of love, whether

it be through dance, through communication, through food, music, but we're also elevating our lgbtqi community through this theme. we're having our very first block and stage dedicated to all lgbtqi artists and nonprofit organizations, and we're also showing love through our tech and game pavilion, where we're engaging a lot of youth to be part of this industry by introducing them with resources and tools. we're showing love also through our wonderful stages with local acts, local performances. we're also showing love through our cannabis garden, that we're in the process of getting permitted to finally, you know, sell at our space in a way that's culturally relevant. but all in all, i say mucho amor in a culturally relevant way. damian: oh, that's fabulous. and, you know, and you're still keeping--you touched on this a

little bit--you're still keeping some of the health aspect of it, making sure that people are okay when it comes to covid or whatnot and making sure that if they need to be tested, they know where to go. rodrigo: very much so. i'm glad that you brought it up, because we are partnering with the latino task force on covid-19, [speaking spanish]. so, on both the festival and the parade, and the festival specifically, we will have about six different vaccination sites. we will be distributing rapid covid tests. we will be providing covid tests, as well and wrapped around resources, right? there are also prizes for especially children and youth that get vaccinated during the 2-day festival. and at the parade, we're going to be personally giving covid rapid tests down as we walk down the parade to our spectators, to our artists. so, people will feel safe. people will have means to be safe at carnaval. damian: and the flavor, the taste of afro cuban,

afro mexican, afro latino music, culture, y todo. rodrigo: afro, indigenous, and everything in between. damian: all right, well, it's happening. any final thoughts that you have, rodrigo. this is great that things, again, getting back to normal with some precautions. rodrigo: we welcome everyone to join us. go on our website, follow us on instagram, like us on facebook, and support. we are a large community event, but we are a nonprofit, nonetheless. so, we rely on all your support, all of your love. so, please, if you find a way, do it. damian: all right, thank you so much, rodrigo, for coming on the show and enlightening us about carnaval. thank you so much. rodrigo: thank you. damian: gracias, and again, if you'd like more information, this is carnaval. this is full-on, once again, in san francisco. they're having their annual festival on one day, and then on sunday, it's the annual parade. it begins at 9:30. log on at their website. you'll get more information on routes and where the festival will be taking place.

on a serious note, up next here on "comunidad del valle," the epidemic that is fentanyl. stay with us.

we're talking about the use of fentanyl and what it's doing to our community. we usually talk about lighter stuff and cultural stuff and whatnot on "comunidad del valle," but this is a serious issue affecting the entire nation and particularly here in the bay area. with me is captain michael whittington. he's an investigator with the santa clara county district attorney's office. he's here to talk about this problem and what's being done about it. captain, welcome back to "comunidad del valle." michael whittington: thank you. it's an honor to be here again. damian: yeah, did i overstate it? are we in crisis? is this an emergency? michael: this is a true crisis. the problem we have is when we talk about fentanyl as a community or a government or a group, we like to say that word "drug," but it's not a drug. it's actually a poison. and what we're seeing right now is this trajectory of more deaths every year because people are consuming poison.

damian: talk about the difference. differentiate drug and poison for us, if you will. michael: so, a person who takes a drug, let's say they're taking methamphetamines, or they're taking heroin, obviously, those can kill you, and those can overdose you, and you can die, but fentanyl, one, it is at least 1000 times more powerful than morphine. this chemical is a synthetic chemical that's being mixed with pills and being compacted; therefore, an individual who's taking a oxycodone or oxycontin, who believes they're taking a drug, accidentally is taking something that's about 1000 times more potent and can kill them. here at the da's office, we're not calling the people who die, what some people would call an overdose, we're not calling them an addict. we're calling them victims, because most of the people who are dying are consuming fentanyl without knowing it's a poison. damian: wow. how do you safeguard against that? i mean, you know, i don't know what you can do to safeguard against taking something that you don't know what's in it. i guess if you don't know what's in it, you shouldn't take it, in the first place, but we're in a crisis here.

michael: well, it's the education, and you said it. if you don't know--but that's why number one here at the da's office, we're trying to get the outreach out there to teach people, especially our parents with young children, you know, young teenagers, that first off you should not take a pill that you're not receiving from a pharmacist, or a doctor, or from your parent. if you're on social media or you're at a party, and someone is offering you something that you believe is an oxycodone or a percocet, just know that you could be consuming a poison that can kill you. so, that education component is very important for us. damian: we have heard so many sad stories from parents, captain, parents who lost their teenage sons and daughters to this overdose of fentanyl, not knowing that they were taking fentanyl. i mean, too many of those stories in this county. michael: yes, sadly, we've had them as young as 12 years old. we've had a 13-year-old. right now, the da's office has joined and created a working

group, district attorney jeff rosen, along with board of supervisor cindy chavez. they're co-chairing a working group with parents who've lost their children, sadly, to fentanyl, and our goal is to work together to find out ways to prevent it, to charge the people who are found with it, and also to educate our youth on how to stay away from this. damian: and it's not just the teens and the youth who are consuming the drug, and then it happens to be laced with fentanyl. we talked about an infant in santa rosa who died of exposure to fentanyl. michael: that is correct. and, obviously, extremely sad and extremely upsetting any time a child dies, but to know that fentanyl, number one, is that powerful and that potent that an infant can die just from some type of exposure to it. there have been cases where officers entering homes have been exposed to fentanyl in the air, and have passed out.

and it's obviously a very powerful, potent substance, and that's why we're calling it a poison. damian: and the scary part--all of it is scary--one of the scary parts, i should say, is that you're not going to buy fentanyl in a dark alley, in a street corner, behind a grocery store where the drug dealers hang out. this is online. this is on tiktok. it's on the internet where our youth, our teens have access to all this stuff. michael: that's true. what we're seeing, the vast majority of this communication is through cell phones, through the tiktoks, the instagrams, all the social media platforms that people use to communicate, but especially where our young, our youth live, for the most part. that is their marketplace. and by using emojis, code words, and simple phrases, they're able to facilitate the sale, advertise the fentanyl or the

pills that contain fentanyl, and our youth are consuming them; because like all youth, there's an experimentation aspect to that, and that's where us, as parents, have to explain and talk about the dangers of it. damian: and you're doing that. you're going to community groups and explaining and to schools and explaining how big of a problem this is. michael: yes, actually, at this moment i've been going probably about once a week. i'm trying to ramp that up. i'm going to english-speaking groups, spanish-speaking groups, and i'm trying to spread the word. we have some information, literature that we could pass out. one of the websites that i'm telling parents to go to is the dea's website called onepillcankill. because fentanyl, only one pill can kill you. so, we're telling people to go to that website, the dea's website, and you can see the emojis, you can see the communication, you can see the words that our youth are using to sell fentanyl and, you know, sadly, purchase it. and so we're trying to get the outreach out there.

damian: yeah. if folks at home think that we're trying to scare them, yeah, well, we are because it's that scary. it's a serious drug. we're going to share a couple of websites for you here on "comunidad del valle." one is from the da's office, yeah, the district attorney's office in santa clara county, and one is for the county of santa clara. there you can find more information on this working group to make sure that we address this issue in our own communities. we'll be back with captain whittington here on "comunidad del valle." stay with us.

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with captain michael whittington with the da's office in santa clara county. and, you know, captain, usually--you've been on the show before talking about stuff that is important to our community, cultural stuff--but this is, we're hitting a serious tone on a heavy topic, because that's actually what it is. and if people need to be scared straight, so be it, because it's that serious. michael: yes, the trend we're seeing every year is that the amount of deaths by fentanyl poison have increased--around

30 two years ago, last year or the year prior to that was about 80, now it's 130. this year, we have more. so, each year we're seeing this progression of more deaths. and sadly, many of these people are all very young. so, those are two trajectories we wish to prevent. also, something we love to tell people is fentanyl doesn't know your race. it doesn't know your socioeconomic background. it doesn't know anything about you; and, therefore, we're telling all community groups that these types of pills, fentanyl-laced or compressed pills, can kill you. one pill can kill. damian: and i don't know what the number is, but the da himself, jeff rosen, at the news conference that you and i were at, talking about this working group, he mentioned the confiscation of several thousand pills, and he said that all of those pills can kill everyone in santa clara county, wow. michael: it was 11,000 pills that were seized. and to put fentanyl in perspective, all you need, if

you were to open a salt packet and sprinkle out five little grains of salt, those five small grains, that's potent enough to kill you; and, therefore, if you have a full pill in which you have more than that in fentanyl, that can kill people; therefore, the danger of this is real, and we need to know that. damian: oh, wow. well, there's also a warning that we want to issue, and that is to the drug dealers. tell us the consequences. michael: if you sell drugs, or if you're selling fentanyl, the poison to people, and you know it's fentanyl, and that person dies, we can charge you with murder. so, if you have fentanyl, you need to dispose of it properly through a pharmacy or a hospital, one of the places that allows you to do it properly, we need you to stop. if you know someone who's selling fentanyl, you need to report them. there's many anonymous ways you can do it, through crimestoppers and other ways that also have rewards. but if somebody is selling fentanyl, that person can kill,

and it's our job to stop them. damian: so, if someone sells a pill of oxycodone and in that pill, it's laced with fentanyl, is that pill gonna cost you more because it is laced, or is it the same price? it's just the addictive part of it that they're trying to sell you? michael: normally, it's the addictive part. usually, these pills go for about $20 or $30 in the street. and the reason that fentanyl was introduced, the synthetic was introduced is because it is a more powerful high. it is a more powerful depressant; therefore, it's also more addictive. so, if you have a little bit, and you give the customer a much more potent high, then you can get them to come back. not all people will die from consuming these pills, but the risk is too great, and the trajectory we're seeing of more and more people dying each year tells us that this is becoming an epidemic. damian: and you were mentioning that if any celebrating this epidemic, it's the cartels,

being more addicted. they're gonna want more of this drug. michael: right, it's anybody who's selling drugs, anybody who's making this, those are the people who are earning the money, and our loved ones are dying. damian: any advice to parents? i mean, it's so hard because, you know, our children, our youth are on their phones, and, you know, we're supposed to keep track of their--or monitor their phone access and what they're looking at, but it's difficult a lot of times. what advice would you give to parents? michael: well, the first advice i give every parents, tell your children every day you love them. that's number one. and number two, communicate the dangers. you have to have an open line of communication, not saying, "you know what? i'm not saying just say no. yes, that's a wonderful phrase, but also let me tell you why." our youth want the why. and if you start with the why, and then you give them what can happen, our children will understand more. the why is you can die. look at these examples. look at the 12-year-old, the 13-year-old, the baby.

you can die. this is why i don't want you to take it. that's why i don't want you to consume illegal, you know, pills in the street. and then give them information. our youth love transparency. they love to have information to make their own decisions. so, i think just our communication as parents, that's where we have to start. damian: all right. well, we thank you so much. any final thoughts before i let you go, captain whittington? michael: no. it's an honor to be here again. it's a very sad, serious, scary topic, and our goal is not to absolutely scare everyone from taking pills from pharmacies. no, that's not the point. the point is we have a crisis in the streets. that crisis we can control with communication, enforcement, and all the factors we're doing here at the district attorney's office, along with our local pds, and as well as this outreach that's helping us. damian: captain whittington, a very sobering conversation. thank you for being on the show with us today. michael: thank you, sir. damian: all right, thank you. and if you'd like more information, again, this working group in santa clara county, there is a web address for them and also a web address for the santa clara county da's office,

who is taking this crisis very, very seriously. also, you can log on to the dea website and find out more. we're gonna lighten it up and get back to our cultural roots, if you will, here on "comunidad del valle" when we continue. so, please stay with us. ♪♪♪

here on "comunidad del valle," you can follow me on instagram. my address there is @newsdamiantrujillo. that's my handle, actually, and on twitter my handle is @newsdamian, and i think you can log on there and find out more about what we're doing on "comunidad del valle." we thank you, once again, for sharing your sunday with us. kind of a heavy topic here, but i felt it was important to get the word out. we're going to lighten it up now and give you the taste, the sounds, and flavors of carnaval, because it is coming back to san francisco in full effect, parade and festival, next weekend. so, we'll see you again here next week. here are the images of carnaval.

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from being born in a small town in the dominican republic, i've grown up with not much. and getting to this country and through the military and coming back and having this beautiful family, it feels like i would have never thought it was possible, coming from where i came from. it's definitely been a journey. how is our family? come on home! george oliphant: life changing surprises, transformations, and reveals. when families and communities come together, anything is possible. this is george to the rescue.