VOICE OF ‘REASON’
Netflix star to warn kids on danger of opioids
BRANDON Larracuente, one of the buzzed-about actors from the Netflix show "13 Reasons Why," knows tragedy onscreen and off.
He not only played a doomed teen in the acclaimed series produced by Selena Gomez, he also lost a close friend to the opioid epidemic.
“My friend was only 19 years old when she died. It happened four years ago, when she went to a house party and took a painkiller when she got there,” Larracuente told the Daily News on Tuesday.
He said the opioid reduced his friend's inhibition, and she ended up drinking alcohol, too.
“The combination proved to be a lethal mix. She died alone in a room. Everyone she called out to was also under the influence, and no one could help,” he explained.
“It only took one wrong, risktaking decision to cost her her life,” he said.
To help spare others the pain his friend's family endured, Larracuente, 22, is warning young adults about the dangers of opioids.
He signed up to speak with thousands of local teens at the WE Day UN event at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday and help launch “It Ends With Us,” a new education and drug disposal campaign from Walgreens.
“I want kids to feel empowered and educated,” he said. “Too often, medication is easy to access in the home, whether it's unwanted or unused, and that can lead to a downward spiral of opioid abuse.”
The actor, who is also known for his role as Ben Rayburn in the Netflix thriller “Bloodline,” will share his MSG stage with Francesca Paparone, a New Jersey native who was 16 when she tried her first prescription opioid stolen from a friend's medicine cabinet in 2009.
Paparone, now 24, quickly got hooked, began buying pills from peers and later moved on to heroin, she told The News. addiction and
“Eventually the price of pills became too expensive and I was introduced to heroin. I went from an honor roll student to a full-blown heroin addict at the age of 18,” she said.
“During college, I was left without any parental supervision, using heroin daily and skipping classes. I didn’t recognize the person I was becoming, but I would have done anything to chase the high of my addiction,” she said.
Thankfully, her family was able to stage an intervention and get her into rehab, she said.
“After nine months of battling my addiction and multiple relapses, I eventually maintained longterm sobriety,” she told The News.
She wants young adults to learn from her mistakes and know recovery is possible.
“I know because I did it, and I believe that they can do it, too,” she said.