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Who is Noah Santana-Cobain? Heartbreaking videos show San Francisco teen's struggle with fentanyl addiction

Noah Santana-Cobain, a former foster child, 19, lives in a social service center located just near the infamous open-air drug market

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: A 19-year-old former foster, who identifies himself as Noah Santana-Cobain, was caught in a series of heartbreaking videos narrating his addiction to fentanyl after being moved to Larkin Center. The center offers support for young adults aged between 18 and 24 who are old to stay in foster homes. It is located just near the infamous open-air drug market which gave Noah easy access to the supply of the synthetic opioid.

Sharing his story, a local citizen journalist JJ Smith highlighted Noah's dilemma in which the teen explained how his drug of choice is fentanyl. “I usually smoke fentanyl or weed," says Noah, who is originally from Iowa Township in South Dakota, and moved to San Francisco to be with his grandmother. Describing it, the teen says that he shifted to the care of social services after his grandmother suffered a fentanyl overdose. "My grandma overdosed once, I have never. I've been to treatment a long time ago. I went to this treatment called Our Home For Youth. It's a very hard place to be at I guess,” explains Noah, who can be seen wearing a torn t-shirt, reports DailyMail. 

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Smith showed a video of Noah's current home, the Larkin Center, which comes equipped with a fentanyl market just steps from the front door. He wrote, "This young man story is he is a foster child that out grew the system and lives at the Routz house which is part of the Larkin Streets Youth Service that help kids that age out of foster care system but outside there front door there's a Fentanyl camp." Another picture showed the teen passing out on the street.

Talking to Smith, Noah says, "I've been doing real rough." When asked if he went to the hospital, he replied, "No, I'm afraid of the hospital," and further added that he has been doing 'lousy' in dealing with his drug problem and describes spending $10 to $15 per day on his 'fetty' habit, states DailyMail. When asked if he wants to put an end to drugs, Noah can be heard saying, "I'm just tired of my leg hurting." Commenting on the teen's situation, Smith told DailyMail, "He was hooked on Fentanyl before the camp was outside his door, but here in San Francisco the area he lives in the drug is very accessible so he can walk to the corner from his house to the middle of the black and buy it from anyone." He added that "the permissive attitude of San Francisco is partly to blame for Noah's woes."

One of Smith's videos got the attention of the San Francisco Police Department who retweeted the video showing Noah with a leg injury that was caused after he got struck by a car. However, the circumstances of that accident are unknown. The department had a paramedic aid his wounded leg and thanked Smith for drawing their attention to Noah. According to DailyMail, the California city closed its open-air drug market, the Tenderloin Linkage Center. However, it opened just 10 months ago.