A memorial was held Saturday for an Imperial Beach teenager who recently died from a fentanyl overdose.
Friends and family of Marcelino Camarena gathered at Imperial Beach Sports Park for a day of skateboarding and outreach. They teamed up with San Diego County to host the “Mars Wrld Teen Empowerment and Wellness Resource Fair."
Camarena’s friends used to call him "Mars." The goal of the resource fair is to prevent other families from feeling the same pain.
“It hurts me because that was my best friend, like my brother. I grew up with him my whole life. He got me into skating and he looked out for me,” said James Fowler, Camarena’s friend.
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Camarena’s family wants to promote sober skating and let young people know there is hope.
“It’s OK to ask for help. It’s OK to cry on your homie’s shoulder. I'd rather you cry on your homie's shoulder than your homies showing up at your funeral and looking you in a casket,” said Fowler.
Camarena overdosed in his home on Aug. 17. He was just days away from his 18th birthday.
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“My daughters knew when they walked into that room that he was gone. An hour before that he looked in my eyes and said how hopeless he felt. He didn’t have anything left and he didn’t want to go on,” said Carmelita Trujillo, Camarena’s mother.
Trujillo said her son was battling with mental health issues and substance abuse. Camarena used skateboarding to deal with stress.
“He began to self-medicate his pain. It started with marijuana and progressed to Xanax and then went to his death with fentanyl,” said Trujillo.
“He just didn’t want to be here anymore and that’s tough. For me the whole focus of this event is to let the youth know we care about them and somehow bring them resources so they don’t have to wait till they get to the level of crisis like my son,” said Camarena.
San Diego has become the national epicenter for fentanyl trafficking according to the Department of Justice. More fentanyl is being seized by border agents in San Diego and Imperial Counties than at any other ports of entry. In the first nine months of 2022, Customs and Border Protection has seized 5,091 pounds of fentanyl in San Diego and Imperial Counties. Those seizures amount to about 60% of the fentanyl seized around the country.
Fentanyl overdose deaths in San Diego County have increased 2,375% over five years. In 2016, there were 33 fentanyl deaths, compared to 817 deaths in 2021.
