Someone’s Grandson: Boy, 10, Among Youngest Fla. Victims of Opioid Crisis
If you are a grandparent like me, the news of this child’s death from exposure to a super powerful opioid, Fentanyl is alarming. I had no idea that by just touching it or breathing it in accidentally could be fatal.
If you haven’t already, I encourage you to read the full article from an ABC station in New York City.
Boy, 10, Among Youngest Fla. Victims of Opioid Crisis: Officials
“It could be as simple as touching it. It could have been a towel at the pool,” state attorney says. “We just don’t know”
Fifth-grader Alton Banks died June 23 after a visit to the pool in the city’s Overtown section. He began vomiting after coming home and was found unconscious that evening. Preliminary toxicology tests show he had fentanyl in his system, authorities said.
“We don’t believe he got it at his home,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said. “It could be as simple as touching it. It could have been a towel at the pool.”
She added: “We just don’t know.”
The case has underscored how frighteningly prevalent fentanyl has become — and how potent it is. Exposure to just tiny amounts can be devastating.
Investigators said Alton may have been exposed to the drug on his walk home in Overtown, a poor, high-crime neighborhood where Assistant Miami Fire Chief Pete Gomez said he has seen a spike in overdoses in the past year and where needles sometimes litter the streets.
“There is an epidemic,” Gomez said. “Overtown seems to have the highest percentage of where these incidents are occurring.”
What can we grandparents do? Here is an article that gives some ideas.