Q&A: Zachary Didier's parents talk about their mission to raise awareness about fentanyl since Rocklin teen's death
A year ago, KCRA 3 brought you the heartbreaking story of Zachary Didier. The 17-year-old from Rocklin was a Whitney High School senior set to graduate in the spring. But it all ended because of one pill. Zach was a victim of fentanyl poisoning.
He bought what he thought was Percocet from someone he met through Snapchat.
Instead, that dealer sold him a counterfeit pill made with fentanyl.
His parents, Laura and Chris Didier spoke to Brian Heap live during a KCRA 3 Investigates special report.
| WATCH | KCRA 3 Investigates special report: Fighting fentanyl
Laura, I remember a year ago when you told me about Zach's story. You said, Brian, we didn't know about this and we have to make sure other parents know about this. And you both have dedicated the last year of your lives to doing just that. Tell me about that journey.
Laura Didier: "Yes, it was a difficult decision to make because Zach was living this great life and you worry what people are going to think of your child. But, we knew Zach well and we knew he always wanted to help people he would not want us to become aware of this crisis and not share what we learned. So, we quickly as a family decided to make this our mission and warn other families so they don't have to suffer this way."
Chris, you and Laura go into schools and you do presentations to students. You also do them for parents. Tell me how those are received, especially among the teens.
Chris Didier: "I think it's been received quite well but I think there's a little bit of trepidation and hearing the idea of a parent or an adult wanting to talk to them about a very tricky topic. But when it's a parent, a grieving family that comes into their classroom and we come from a very open perspective and an honest place, and to say this is a danger. We're not trying to tell you what to do or what not to do what we're trying to do is to just explain that there is a danger out there, that there's deception behind the danger and your age group is the most impacted right now and we want you alive. We just want you to understand and want you to know."
Laura, what's the next step in the advocacy movement? I know social media platforms are certainly doing more than they were before Zach's death. Are they doing enough to help and what do you think is the next step?
Laura Didier: "It's just continuing to get this message out. In-person we're finding it works well when we can get in front of the kids and they hear our story face-to-face and see our concern for them. Getting messages out through social media, where the kids are. Different public service announcements that they will see where they are, and going into the schools has been really eye-opening for them. They are so compassionate, they are so kind and you can tell the message is really landing."
Chris, it's not just the awareness, you both have been involved in the efforts at the Capitol, going to the Capitol talking to lawmakers trying to get new laws passed to strengthen the laws and the punishments for fentanyl trafficking. I think it's safe to say it hasn't gone as well as you had hoped. Why do you suppose that is and what do you think is next for that?
Chris Didier: "I think that there is an old paradigm that we are struggling with. In our advocacy, one of our biggest challenges is the stigma that tends to connect with the message we are saying. When a new problem, a new complexity of what fentanyl brings it's hard to understand. People, general people, parents, educators and even lawmakers tend to compartmentalize and think that it's an old problem. But that's a misunderstanding and they are missing the message. We need to get past that and say it's a different problem. In the past, it's a slippery slope when someone would experiment with a product like marijuana, heroin or any other illicit product. But now, with fentanyl in the play, and it's made in clandestine labs and they're really lethal, it creates an environment that's more like a minefield and there is no chance to learn life's lessons through the slippery slope of the past. We need to enact new laws to update and implement better safeguards to prevent these senseless deaths."
When we first met you both told me you wanted to honor your son and you have absolutely done that. I wanted to just share with you a message that I got today from the Placer County District Attorney who told me this is his quote, "Laura and Chris's activism and passion have helped countless other grieving parents and family members through their darkest days and it continues to be inspirational."