Billboard campaign focuses on overdoses

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson is continuing his push to curb drug overdose deaths by launching a new billboard campaign featuring pictures of two young adults who died earlier this year.

The billboards — featuring Amelia Sorich and Zachary Martinez, both 18, who died in sperate incidents earlier this year while doing drugs with other people — encourage people to call 911 when someone they are with overdoses.

Sorich was an honors student who graduated early from Bingham High School. She was working two jobs at the time of her death to raise money for college.

Martinez was also a straight-A student who graduated early, held a job and passed a routine drug test for his job just before his death, according to his mother, Georgia Martinez.

The people with Sorich and Martinez panicked when the overdoses occurred. Instead of getting medical help, they feared being arrested. After Sorich and Martinez died, the people they were with took their bodies and dumped them in the foothills in an attempt to cover up their involvement.

Advocates say it's easy for drug users to panic when they see somebody overdose. Before the situation occurs, they say, people need to decide they will seek help if they're with an overdose victim.

"Kids aren't doing their best thinking" when they're on drugs, said Abbie Vaines, coordinator of the Mayor's Coalition on Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs. "The mayor's message is to think about it ahead of time and make the decision to call 911 or get help and get (victims) to an emergency room."

Local advertisers, including Regan Outdoor Advertising Co. and Utah Outdoor Advertising Co., along with Frog Marketing have donated roughly $25,000 worth of advertising space for the new billboards, Vaines said.

One problem is the high potency of today's drugs that often cause problems for young adults or teenagers who aren't regular users.

"Kids are experimenting and they have no idea that the drugs out there today are just so much more potent than they were 10 to 15 years ago," Vaines said. She encouraged parents to do a walkthrough in their house each night to make sure their teenagers aren't using drugs right under their noses.

In the Sorich case MaCall Aubrey Petersen, 18, and her boyfriend, Jasen Andrew Calacino, 19, are both charged with abuse of a dead human body, a third-degree felony, among other crimes.

Salt Lake City prosecutor Sim Gill said prosecutors will likely be more lenient on people who try to get help rather than let overdose victims die.

"It's not an automatic freebie or anything" but "there is something called prosecutorial discretion. You take a good Samaritan where you can find one, especially when the difference is between saving a life and not saving a life."

In addition to the billboards, Anderson has been doing radio spots encouraging people to do the right thing.

"Don't put your life — or the life of your friends — on the line. If you hang out with people who do drugs, think now before you are faced with the situation. Decide now that if you are with someone who overdoses you will call 911 or get the person to an emergency room immediately. If you don't help, you will have to live with the decision the rest of your life," Anderson said in a statement. "You don't need to identify yourself when you call for life-saving medical assistance for someone who has overdosed."

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