OWN TV presenter Dr. Laura Berman is issuing a warning to parents of teenagers about the alarming and rising rate of opioid-related deaths in America, just days after discovering their teenage son died of an apparent overdose.
Berman spoke to Fox News on Tuesday from her home in Santa Monica, California, where on Sunday, she found her son Samuel “Sammy” Berman Chapman dead almost an hour after her husband, Samuel Chapman, delivered her lunch in your room. Paramedics were unable to revive the teenager and the information found at the scene shows that Sammy may have communicated with a drug dealer on the Snapchat app. He is believed to have undergone an apparent overdose after taking Xanax or Percocet with fentanyl. Toxicological reports are still pending.
“Like many teenagers, especially boys, but also girls, who are full of hormones and feel immortal and infallible and are stuck at home, bored, rigid and trying to connect, [Sammy] did something stupid, “recalls Berman.
With the help of the Santa Monica Police Department’s Narcotics Division, Berman and her husband, Samuel Chapman, are trying to piece together what happened. She said that a screenshot of Sammy’s Snapchat account appears to show that he was communicating with a dealer who provided a “marketing spreadsheet” for drugs and prices. Berman said he believed the drug dealer handed Sammy mixed drugs, but that his son had no intention of using fentanyl.
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Dr. Laura Berman revealed that she found her teenage son Sammy dead at her home. Sammy is believed to have died of an overdose.
(Valerie Macon / Getty Images)
“I know he didn’t know he was taking fentanyl. He wasn’t interested in it; he was afraid of it. He didn’t actively understand addiction and he didn’t want to be addicted yet, unfortunately, most American teenagers try these drugs with fentanyl. supposedly relatively innocent experimental drugs, “she said.
Berman said she and Chapman had an open dialogue with Sammy about drugs when they discovered cannabis use in the past. She said the couple “did not encourage or allow him” and “watched him very carefully”. Berman and Chapman have two other children: Jackson, 15 and Ethan, 23.
“The kids think, ‘Oh, I can take this just once and I’m not going to be addicted’ or ‘I can try it once to see how it goes,’ without knowing it is going to kill them,” warned Berman. “They need to know that these retailers they are meeting with are probably giving them fentanyl products. This is really easy for anyone to overdose, but especially for a teenager.”
In his conversations with the authorities, Berman said he learned even more now about how the opioid crisis in America was a pandemic “long before COVID-19”.
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Dr. Laura Berman (left) with her son, Sammy, who died on Sunday at the age of 16.
(Photo courtesy of Samuel Chapman)
“We know it has been a pandemic, but it is silent,” Berman shared. “It’s incredibly addictive, it destroys the brain, it destroys lives and it’s almost impossible to beat. The level of death and suicide, even just from the pain of trying to sober up, is astronomical.”
The host of the “Language of Love” podcast shared that she learned that there were 200 deaths in the school system at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) last year that appear to be from a fentanyl overdose. Her warning to parents like herself is to use their child’s death as a “learning moment”.
“Don’t think your child is safe just because he is taking shelter at home with you,” said Berman. “Even if your child is not really giving credibility and listening to you, he cares deeply about what is going on with his colleagues. If they can relate to my son and see him and see what happened to him, use that. Use this to reach your children. “
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A few hours after posting about her son’s death on Instagram, Berman said she was “overwhelmed” with “hundreds” of stories from similar parents whose children died of drug overdoses, particularly counterfeit drugs.
Berman and his family’s approach to seeking more answers about what was in the Sammy system and how it is multifaceted. In addition to one day becoming an advocate against the opioid pandemic, Berman said he believes that big tech companies like Snapchat can do more.
“What we need is for Snapchat, Twitter and all platforms to help the police catch predators that are killing our children. Snapchat is very clear that they do not support drug trafficking and I am sure that whenever their algorithm finds a page advertising drug trafficking, they remove it, but that does not stop the trafficker. They are like a mole. They just show up with a new account seconds later, “she said.
Snapchat released a statement on Monday in response to Sammy’s death.
Dr. Laura Berman recalls her son’s ‘intellectual curiosity’, telling Fox News that he ‘loved business and science’.
(Photo courtesy of Samuel Chapman)
“Our deepest condolences go out to Samuel Berman Chapman’s family and friends and we are heartbroken by his death,” a company spokesman said in a statement. “We are committed to working together with the authorities in this case and in all instances where Snapchat is used for illegal purposes. We have zero tolerance for using Snapchat to buy or sell illegal drugs.”
The spokesman said the company is “constantly improving” its ability to detect drug-related activities. Berman, however, said authorities have informed her that apps like Snapchat rarely help to identify traffickers. Instead, they just try to remove the account.
“We have no news of [Snapchat.] Any parent blames himself more than anything else. Snapchat did not deliver the drugs to my son’s door. What I hold Snapchat responsible for is taking those who did it and those who are doing it for other children and parents across the country, “she said.
Berman added: “I do not hold you responsible for your death, but I hold you responsible for your justice.”
A Snapchat representative did not immediately respond to Fox News’s request for comment.
“The police say this is happening in a violent way. They are finding dead children everywhere and we were not the first to experience this tragedy,” said the heartbroken mother.
Berman said he found his son dead on Sunday on his Instagram. “My beautiful boy is gone. 16 years. A shelter at home, ”she wrote on Instagram, along with a photo of her and her son hugging. “My heart is completely broken and I’m not sure how to keep breathing. I publish this now just so that another child can die.”
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“A drug dealer connected with him on Snapchat and gave him fentinyl [sic] tied Xanax or Percocet (toxicology will tell) and he overdosed in his room. They do this because it hooks people even more and it is good for business, but it causes an overdose and children do not know what they are taking “, continues his post on social networks.
Bill Bodner, the special agent in charge of the DEA in Los Angeles, told Fox 11 that what happened to Sammy is happening to other children in the United States
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He said the counterfeit pills advertised on social media are made to look like real Xanax or other types of drugs, but are typically fentanyl – which can be deadly.
“It is something done in a filthy clandestine laboratory in Mexico. There is no quality control. The dosage is extremely inconsistent. It only takes 2.5 mg of fentanyl to kill it,” Bodner told the station.
The presenter of “In the Room with Dr. Laura Berman” added that the pandemic is increasing the pressure and tribulation that children face for being stuck at home, out of school due to the coronavirus pandemic, rather than at school with their pairs. They are increasingly turning to social media communication, she said.
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Berman, who recalled Sammy’s good grades on Fox News, his love of science and his willingness to go to college and travel around Europe, said he finally decided to speak up to raise awareness.
“I felt so helpless and full of anger beyond the pain. I just thought, I will post this to my people because if I can save a child tonight, it will be worth it,” she concluded.
Fox News’s David Aaro contributed to this report.