Bloomfield High School in Connecticut.Photo: Google Maps
A 16-year-old student suffered an overdose at school on Thursday after smoking marijuana that police believe waslaced with fentanyl.
The student, from Bloomfield High School in Connecticut, was overdosing in the school’s security office just before 11 a.m. when police arrived at the scene, they said in a press release.
School staff and police gave the student first aid and “multiple doses” of Narcan, also known as naloxone, the medication used to reverse an opioid overdose. They were then taken to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and released later that day, Bloomfield Public Schools Superintendent James Thompson Jr.told NBC News.
Police said they are investigating the incident.
Bloomfield High School went into a “shelter in place” for about a half hour as EMTs dealt with the student.
“The safety and well-being of our students is always our top priority and we appreciate everyone’s help in ensuring this continues,” the school’s principal, Dan Moleti, told parents in a letter.
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“The powder substance that was inside that bag, 58% of that was fentanyl as opposed to on average 2%,” Hartford police sergeant Chris Mastroianni toldNBC Connecticut. “So that becomes you know, a very, very dangerous product, very deadly product, especially for a child weighing, you know, most kids at that age under 100 pounds. Very dangerous.”
And in November, Connecticut’s Department of Public Healthwarned residents about a possible trend of fentanyl-laced marijuanacirculating in the state after a string of overdoses. In a press release, the health department said they encountered multiple cases where patients needed naloxone but “denied any opioid use,” instead claiming that they “only smoked marijuana.”
The Plymouth, Connecticut police department tested samples of marijuana from the scene of one overdose and found that itcontained fentanyl.
“The CT ORS [Connecticut Overdose Response Strategy] Team strongly advises all public health, harm reduction, and others working with clients who use marijuana to educate them about the possible dangers of marijuana with fentanyl,” the health departmentsaid in a press release. “The CT ORS Team also recommends that anyone who is using substances obtained illicitly that they know the signs of an opioid overdose, do not use alone, and have naloxone on hand.”
source: people.com
