Age of experimentation must end, fentanyl panel says
by Elka Worner “People want to know, ‘Is it really that bad or is it something that happens in back alleys?’ I hate to say it, but no. It’s extremely prevalent right here in our Beach Cities and in the South Bay,” Hermosa Beach Police Chief Paul LeBaron said at a Beach Cities Health District community forum to raise awareness about the fentanyl crisis. The forum was held February 9 at the Redondo Union High School Auditorium. Between 2016 and 2021, the South Bay recorded 529 fentanyl deaths, including 114 people under the age of 25, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. After a young Hermosa Beach man died of a fentanyl overdose in 2020, the department launched an investigation into fentanyl dealers. “We were buying the stuff easily by just logging on anonymously to social media platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Cash App, Snapchat, Telegram, stuff you go on every single day,” Chief LeBaron said. “We anonymously got on there and found people and they brought it to us immediately.” The investigation led to the arrest of five people, four adults and one juvenile, and the seizure of about 2,400 pills that tested positive for fentanyl. “This isn’t like you…
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