Right now at 5A, KGW exclusive deadly
pills sold by some Mexican pharmacies.
A warning from the mother of a g
man from Salem who thought he was buying
Oxy on a family trip and instea.
Got something else?
Plus, just ahead of the holiday,
our temperatures are about to c.
Matt has the hot forecast for the weekend,
and the quest to bring Major
League Baseball to the Rose City
adds a heavy hitter to its line.
Now Portland's mayor is stepping
up to the plate. Hello
everyone on this Thursday,
and we begin with the new effort
to combat crime in the Rose Cit.
The grocery giant Fred Meyer
is implementing new security
measures in hopes of deterring
thieves from shoplifting.
Thank you for joining us.
I'm Laurel Porter.
And I'm David Mulko.
Let's get right to Mike Benner,
who is outside the Fred Meyer
near Providence Park. So,
Mike, what is changing?
How's this gonna work?
Yeah, David, Short answer.
More security guards and camera,
among other things, necessary
because in the last 12 months a,
Fred Meyer's endured record
levels of theft and loss.
And here's the deal.
It's just not sustainable,
even for big and successful
companies like Fred Meyer.
So again, the company will be rolling
out a bunch of new security measures,
starting with security guards.
Fred Meyer will be using thirdparty security
services at levels it never has before.
To keep tabs on both the
interior and exterior of stores.
The company will be investing in innovative
technology to keep tabs on whats
happening inside and outside their buildings.
You may also have to stop at the door.
To get your receipt checked.
I'm told this would not
be identical to Costco,
but very similar.
Fred Meyer president Todd Kammer
says these security measures wil
look different at different stos
and may vary based on the time of day,
all of it being pushed out
in the coming weeks.
We have seen retailers closing their doors
and leaving our city
possibly never to return. But
at Fred Meyer, we are committed
to staying in the communities
that we serve
and providing equitable
access to fresh food and essent.
All right.
Fred Meyer is not doing this al.
They're partnering with the cit.
What might that look like exact?
Well, we're told Fred Meyer
may be sharing theft data
and trends with the city,
and the police Bureau is tryingo
figure out how to partner and wk
best with Fred Meyer loss prevention.
Let's send it back to you.
It's really too bad it's come to that,
though. Thank you, Mike. A dire
warning from Portland police
after three young children overd
on fentanyl in the last two wee.
Two were just one year old,
the other was a three-year old toddler.
The cases are unrelated and Portland police
wouldn't say whether the young children died.
Fentanyl is commonly used
in a powder or pill form,
which can look like candy to ki.
Police have seen a large spike
in deadly overdoses this year.
137 people have already died
from overdoses since January.
Last year, 155 people died
throughout the entire year,
Police Captain Jake Jensen says.
It takes full community
support to fight drug problems,
takes treatment providers,
it takes law enforcement,
it takes probation officers,
judges, prosecutors,
it takes the whole community,
just people in the community to
to work together to solve this.
Jensen says Measure 110,
which remove criminal penaltiesr
low level drug possession charg,
has made police officers
jobs more challenging.
But he says House Bill 2645,
which would make possession of o
5 grams of fentanyl A misdemean,
is a step in the right directio.
It was it was
like falling backwards,
like when I first found him.
But this time it was anger.
I felt like my son would had been murdered.
A mother's anguish over the death of her son,
a young adult from West Salem wo
walked into a pharmacy in Mexico
during a family vacation and less than
two days later died from fentan.
This evening, AKGW exclusive.
As we hear from a family that says it
feels like it has to warn the wd
about the dangers of counterfeit
prescription pills bought from a
place they thought they could t,
with the hope they can spur change and
save lives, here is Tristan's s.
Oh my boy.
He was so full of life.
He loved life and he lived life
to the fullest.
Heather Sheesh is heartbroken or
the loss of her 22 year
old son Tristan. This is
the last photo of
you guys as a family and this i.
Tristan in the green
area. Yeah, in the hat. With the big smile,
a big smile and a bright future as he trained
to become a nurse, then a firefighter.
He loved making people happy.
He loved helping people. I mean,
the sky was the limit for my so.
Last Thanksgiving, the West Salm
family celebrated life with a cruise.
I've been traveling to Mexico. For years,
seven days on the Norwegian Blis
down and back Mexico's Pacific Coast,
So it was just really nice.
Everybody was excited.
Their final port on the Baja
Peninsula, the city of Ensenada.
My son walked into a Mexican pharmacy
and asked for oxycodone.
Tristan, Heather says,
had been diagnosed with severe ,
and though he didn't like
to talk about it, he'd been
struggling with his mental heal.
He was a young kid making a
really bad choice that day.
He's a young adult. What do you?
What do you do as a parent,
you know? He said to me,
He said, Mom, he said a couple
of Oxy aren't going to kill me.
The next day, the family flew home to Oregon.
The following morning, Heather went to
her son's bedroom and found Tristan dead.
I miss everything about him.
Salem police say they found fenl
test strips similar to these ons
night stand along with 19 pills,
but it seems like that he was vy
aware that fentanyl was out the.
Yeah, he was terrified of fenta.
Police could not confirm whether
Tristan tested the pill or
pills that killed him. The blue
pills. The blue pills if
fentanyl. So when you
finally got the report,
the final, final report, confirming fentanyl
has the cause of death, anger,
anger, because you know, I felt like my
son would had been murdered, poisoned
by a pill from a place Tristan thought.
He could trust though.
It turns out the problem of
potentially deadly counterfeit
prescription pills isn't limiteo
one pharmacy or even one Mexican city.
And so these are very high risk medications,
UCLA's Dr. David Goodman Mesa
or pharmacies to be selling
counterfeit products.
That is very surprising to me.
In a UCLA study published in February,
researchers sent shoppers to buy a total
of 45 pills without a prescriptn
from 40 tourist oriented pharmas
across 4 cities in northern Mex.
The team then used both infrared light
and testing strips to identify e
substances inside and found 20 out of 45.
That's nearly half or counterfe.
For example, 82% of single tablets sold as
Adderall contained meth and 30% of pills
sold as Oxycodone contained fentanyl.
You talk about having so
much trust in a pharmacy.
So what do you tell your patients? If
you're going for very at risk
drugs like prescription opiates,
Adderall or benzodiazepines,
then you're really.
Crossing a line that you're
increasing your risk.
The idea of some Mexican pharmas
selling counterfeit pills.
Were you aware at all of this
when you went on that trip?
I can guarantee you
110% my son would not have
walked into that pharmacy
some four months after Tristan's death
after the UCLA study and an LA s
investigation with similar find.
The US State Department issued a
travel advisory exercise caution when
purchasing medication in Mexico,
it read in part.
The Drug Enforcement Administran
reports counterfeit prescription
pills are sold by criminals on
both sides of the border,
and these pills may contain
deadly doses of fentanyl.
They're targeting Americans.
They're targeting anybody that will buy it.
I just, I need to know that
another family is not going to o
through what we went through and
one of the many questions Heather has,
did the cruise line have a dutyo
warn them of the life threatenig
dangers of some Mexican pharmacs
selling counterfeit pills?
So would you say the law is clen
this area? That would not Marite
lawyer Douglas Williams,
who used to defend cruise compa,
says he's never heard of
a case quite like this,
With legal precedent based aroud
families who've sued cruise lins
for negligence, he says.
Still a Gray area.
It's a case by case basis.
And it's going to turn on how mh
knowledge did the cruise line he
actual knowledge of this particr
harm in this particular place?
Have you ever seen a case
where there's been a proactive
warning from a cruise line?
I guess the short answer is no.
Did you get any kind of heads ur
warning from the cruise line abt
anything in Mexico? No. Anythin.
No. Just in writing. Put it in writing.
In an e-mail to Heather this Ma,
Norwegian Cruise Line's senior manager
of guest experience, said the company.
Planned to make changes Quote Or
team will update our current say
messaging to our guests to ensue
they are aware of the issues wih
purchasing non regulated medican
from pharmacies in foreign port.
3 emails from K GW2,
Norwegian along with a voicemail asking
for clarification on exactly what form
those warnings would take and wn
they'd be implemented or not returned.
I miss his hugs, misses,
positive, uplifting attitude.
A lot of memories.
Yeah, a lot of memories.
He did a lot in his lifetime. Ad
for a young man whose motto wasd
happiness and bring it to other,
nothing feels complete
without him. You know, like a
lifetime. His mother says hard was not nearly
long enough. Yes,
he made the choice that day to walk in.
Yes, and he made stupid choice.
But he did not deserve to die.
A group of blackbirds gracing her right
arm. This is our family, and ths
is my son Tristan flying away.
Tristan's final journal
entry on her left for unconditional love
and for always telling me the t.
Reminders to Heather Seven months on,
this is my son's earned of
her son's enduring spirit
and the raw truth of a life cut short.
An immeasurable loss she
now hopes will save others. Some
days I tell myself that, my son.
Some days I tell myself.
My son had to die to help save
other people's lives
and that helps get me through
and that helps get her through.
When it comes to the investigatn
into Tristan's death,
Salem police have closed their .
They say they've notified the D,
which declined to confirm
whether it is investigating,
directing questions about the
pharmacies to authorities in Me.
Meanwhile, hundreds of extended family
and friends plan to gather Fridn
Salem to celebrate Tristan's li.
In Heather's words, above all,
she doesn't want her son to be forgotten.
She wants to continue to do
great things in Tristan's name.
Well,
I am sure that anybody who watched that
story will remember Tristan. If we can
save one life that counts.
And thank you. Thank you, Heath,
for your courage for speaking u.
Ah, the immeasurable pain I can't imagine.
But Mother's love just came thr.
Thank you, Heather.
And we will remember Tristan.