Senate Bill 10, also known as “Melanie’s Law,” was named after Melanie Ramos. She was 15-year-old girl who lost her life after taking a pill that she did not know contained Fentanyl.
Ramos’ mother, Elena Perez, is spearheading the movement to raise and spread awareness to prevent other young adults from overdosing. She expressed her gratitude and detailed how the loss of her daughter has impacted her at the announcement of the bill’s passage this morning.
Elena Perez: “It’s of great importance. For me, it’s a great honor that is law is being named after my girl and It’s of great importance for all the youth at all schools. they have the right to live. this new law will help them give more information to all the young people and the parents of families.”*
Melanie Ramos was found dead on the floor of the girls’ bathroom at Helen Bernstein High School in Hollywood in September of 2022. According to Perez’s attorney, Luis Carrillo, the school called her mother at 12:30pm saying she didn’t show up to class, but wasn’t found until h er friend’s stepfather checked the girls’ restroom eight hours later. By then, Carrillo says, it was too late to try to save her life.
Luis Carillo: “Melanie’s law is now the law of the state of California. Hopefully in the future it will save lives because it mandates certain things. For example, it mandates that school safety plans include prevention and training for school staff so that other kids don’t die of fentanyl overdoses.”
The new law will give every public middle and high school in California Narcan, a nasal spray that can reverse the effects of an overdose. It will also mandate preventative training for California school employees and educate students on the growing risk of exposure to Fentanyl.
Carillo: “And so we’re very grateful that the state has this kind of a law to protect kids in the future and to protect mothers from suffering like Elena Perez is suffering.”
Perez and Carrillo are hopeful that the law will put an end to the growing fentanyl overdose epidemic in California and in the United States at large.
Perez: “I don’t want parents to suffer the loss of their children, I don’t want them to feel the pain I’m feeling. It’s really painful.”*
For Annenberg Media, I’m Gabriella Medina.
*Quotes translated by Natalie Lopez and voiced over by Gabriella Medina