Gone in a SNAP: Jaime Puerta educates students on the loss of his son due to counterfeit drugs

On Monday November 2, Jaime Puerta from Santa Clarita, California came to St. John’s to talk about how he lost his son Daniel Puerta in 2020. He was brought in by junior, Zoey Wagner who met him at a National Security and Diplomacy Internship at Georgetown University through Leadership Initiatives. Jaime Puerta is a United States Marine Corps veteran and the Founder and CEO of Puerta & Associates., a California-based interpreting firm. In April 2020, Jaime's 16-year-old son, Daniel, tragically lost his life after ingesting a counterfeit pill laced with illicit fentanyl that he had unknowingly purchased through Snapchat.

Daniel Puerta was a kindhearted, reluctantly popular 16-year old attending high school in California. He had a love for football and battled with ADHD and depression. Puerta said that his son got involved with the wrong crowd, and started to get into illicit drugs like marijuana and Xanax.

After Daniel started getting into these substances, he started to flunk out of school and was not himself anymore. After things started to go downhill, Jaime decided that he should put Daniel in intense therapy, and even sent him to a wilderness camp for rehabilitation.

After therapy, Daniel came back with a new purpose and according to his father,“He had his son back.” Daniel came back someone wanting to help others with his same problems, planning on studying Psychology in college, and then Covid-19 swept the country.

Then on March 31st, The Puerta family’s lives changed forever. Daniel connected with a drug dealer, he thought he was buying oxycodone, when in reality the pill was laced with illicit fentanyl. Daniel was found dead in his bedroom by his father on April 1st, 2020.

Today, Fentanyl is not just a street drug; it can be hidden in substances that are well known to teenagers. It be pressed into fake prescription pillls (Xanax, Adderall, Oxycodone, Cratum, etc.) and can be cut into different substance products. Jaime shares how immense this crisis is equivalent to losing an entire class of students. It is stated that awareness efforts have reduced levels of drug use by 56%, but Puerta reminded the audience that this average can equate to only one preventable youth day per day.

Today, Daniel’s father continues to honor his son’s legacy by spreading awareness about drug use and addiction. Jaime Puerta is the Co-Founder and President of Victims of Illicit Drugs (VOID), a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about the lethal dangers of counterfeit pills and advocating for stronger policies to stop fentanyl trafficking. Through VOID and his advocacy work, Jaime partners with families, lawmakers, and law enforcement to demand the removal of illicit drug trafficking from social media and other digital platforms. A powerful and effective public speaker, he shares Daniel's story with students, parents, educators, and policymakers to expose the deceptive nature of counterfeit pills and the urgent need for comprehensive education and prevention.

Jaime Puerta has made a significant difference by spreading this awareness, and encourages to spread Daniel’s message through peer to peer education, open discussions, and filmmaking. He even achieved to win multiple awards for his work including the Mount Saint Mary’s University and USC “Guardian of our Youth Legacy Award”.

You can find more about Jaime’s Organization and Daniel’s story at https://stopthevoid.org.

“In loving memory of Daniel Puerta: His legacy continues to inspire hope, awareness, and change”