Liberal Californians say 'extreme left' policies are making the fentanyl crisis ... trends now
Alexandra Capelouto was found slumped over on her bed by her mother, Christine, two days before Christmas.
The 20-year-old sociology major at Arizona State University, who had returned home to Temecula, California on her winter break in 2019, had taken what she thought was a batch of oxycodone to help her sleep.
Instead, it was fentanyl, the deadly drug destroying lives across America. The man who sold it to her, Brandon Michael McDowell, 23, was jailed for nine years in February.
But Alexandra's grieving father, Matt Capelouto, believes the state's liberal lawmakers also 'have blood on their hands'.
Alexandra Capelouto died after taking fentanyl two days before Christmas in 2019. Alexandra was 19 when she took what she thought was oxycodone to help her sleep
Roman Vardanega, 23, is in San Francisco County Jail after holding himself hostage in his mother's home during a fentanyl-fueled craze. Pictured left as a schoolboy before he became hooked on the drug (right)
Corey Berlinn, 32, is a fentanyl addict on the streets of San Francisco. His mother, Jaqcui, is campaigning for tougher penalties for dealers
America's fentanyl crisis was born in the mid-1990s, when pharmaceutical companies falsely claimed 'revolutionary' pills would put an end to chronic pain without addiction.
When regulators finally cracked down on that lie and the use of prescription opioids to treat chronic pain, addicts took to the streets in search of heroin, creating an unprecedented health crisis.
But by the mid 2010s, dealers began cutting other substances with fentanyl, which is much cheaper and around fifty times more potent than heroin.
In 2022, the drug caused around three quarters of roughly 110,000 overdose deaths, - meaning fentanyl is killing around 2,000 Americans a week. Of those, roughly 110 are Californians - approximately 5.5 percent.
The crisis has ravaged many liberal states, creating deep divides within the Democratic Party on how to tackle it.
Matt Capelouto claims efforts by moderate state lawmakers to hold dealers to account are repeatedly blocked by a minority of 'extreme, far-left' Democrats who hold 'too much power'.
In San Francisco, fatal overdoses are already up by 41 percent in the first three months of this year compared to the same period in 2022, with the vast majority of deaths involving fentanyl.
Even before the recent spike, the city had among the highest overdose rates of large US counties.
But its mayor, London Breed, is pumping $18.5million into opening three 'safe consumption' sites that critics say keep addicts hooked on drugs, instead of treating them.
And now liberal parents have had enough.
Middle class families who have seen their children's lives destroyed by the state's fentanyl crisis have told DailyMail.com that California's drug laws are 'insanity' - keeping their loved ones in 'bondage' to their addiction while allowing dealers to act with impunity.
In many cases, victims are star students and athletes from the suburbs, creating a legion of enraged but educated parents challenging the liberal status quo on the war on drugs.
Matt and Christine Capelouto hold a picture of their late daughter Alexandra. Matt has tirelessly campaigned for Alexandra's Law, which aims to make it easier to prosecute fentanyl dealers, but has repeatedly been frustrated by what he calls 'extreme left' Democrats
Matt has said certain senators 'have blood on their hands' for failing to hold dealers accountable for thousands of fentanyl deaths
Tanya Tilghman with son Roman Vardanega in an early photograph. Tanya says she is rethinking her entire liberal worldview because of the attitude of some Democrats towards the fentanyl crisis
Tanya holds a photo of Roman at her home in the North Beach District of San Francisco. She says the city is unrecognizable from the one she moved to aged 15
Jacqui Berlinn holds a photograph of son Corey. She says even he thinks San Francisco mayor London Breed's approach to the fentanyl crisis does not help addicts like him
Tanya Tilghman, 53, says she has been forced to 'rethink' her whole liberal worldview because 'San Francisco has gone way too far left'.
What caused her to reevaluate?
It could have been the moment she was surrounded by 10 to 15 armed police officers while her fentanyl-crazed son held himself hostage in their family home.
Or the time she was laughed at by staff at the city's 'safe consumption' site after she posed as a drug addict and told them she wanted to get clean.
But the final straw seems to be the city's decision to pump millions of dollars into opening three more 'wellness hubs', despite having closed its first after a year because it wasn't helping enough people into treatment.
Her son, Roman Vardanega, 23, became hooked on fentanyl after a long battle with drug abuse that began with Adderall in high school, which had been prescribed to treat his ADHD.
In between, he was also addicted to cocaine, heroin and meth, and ran out of a private Sacramento treatment center aged 19.
By the time his mother brought him back to San Francisco, fentanyl had become unavoidable for those living on the streets, as Roman now was.
The drug made him increasingly erratic and he would repeatedly break into Tanya's home, prompting her to take out a restraining order.
Shortly after, Roman held himself hostage in her home and was taken into custody.
Roman Vardanega became hooked on fentanyl after a long battle with drug abuse that began with Adderall in high school, which had been prescribed to treat his ADHD
The drug made him increasingly erratic and he would repeatedly break into Tanya's home, prompting her to take out a restraining order
Tanya visited the Tenderloin Center in San Francisco, set up to help addicts take drugs in a safe environment and help them into treatment. But Tanya said all she saw was 'people shooting up' and 'smoking from pipes'. The center closed in December after costing roughly $12million.
It was around this time that Tanya got wind of San Francisco's Tenderloin Center, the safe consumption site that opened in January last year.
Mayor Breed had promoted it as a place that would help homeless people struggling with addiction get housing and treatment, so Tanya wanted to find out if it could help her son when he was out of custody.
But when she visited with a group of other mother's, she heard music blaring and wanted a look inside.
She returned, posing as an addict, and told workers at the center she needed help to get off drugs.
'They laughed at me,' she said. 'They told me they could help me to do drugs if I had my own.
'I went inside and there was loud music. I could see people shooting up, smoking from pipes.
'I saw people who were on the ground who looked like they were passed out. Staff didn't seem to care.
'I stayed there for a good 30 to 40 minutes, just to see if anyone was going to check on the people who were lying on the ground. Nobody was checking on them.
'I was thinking: "If I would have brought my son there, there's no way he would have wanted to get help".'
The center closed in December after costing roughly $12million. While center staff reversed more than 300 overdoses, fewer than 1 percent of visits resulted in linkages to mental health or drug treatment.
Tanya is furious at Mayor Breed's recent budget, which allocated millions more dollars to open three new centers.
'If the Tenderloin
