San Diego resident sentenced to 13 years in prison for distributing fentanyl

Olivia Vergopia | Writer

January 27, 2023

Over Instagram, a transaction was connected to the death of a 15-year-old San Diego boy. Kaylar Beltranlap, the man who sold fentanyl-laced pills to this high schooler, distributed these to Clark Salveron in disguise as counterfeit oxycodone pills.

Fentanyl can be disguised as painkillers when in reality they are 50 times more deadly than heroin. Beltranlap argued that he told the boy to only take half, and acknowledged that he made a transaction with the high schooler via his Instagram account. While he pleaded guilty, a judge said Bentranlap went for “easy money” and pointed out his carelessness in distributing this poison into the community.

A special agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego commented that drug dealers use various forms of social media to target younger kids. This brings up the argument of whether social media is the problem or the drug dealers themselves.

“Social media is not the problem because some kids spread information to each other privately about drugs anyways,” said senior Appolo Arenas. “So it doesn’t really have anything to do with social media.”

“I think that social media allows the access for drug dealers to sell to kids way more than in-person deals can,” said senior Noah Johnson. 

Should we hold social media accountable for the increasing number of deaths due to fentanyl poisoning? We will let you decide.