Toxicology reports for a 10-year old boy, who died of in his home in miami, has revealed that his death was a result of an accidental fentanyl overdose. Police officials claimed that the boy had not been infected with the drug at his home. This latest case shows just how potent and dangerous the drug is to the community at large.
Boy accidentally overdoses on fentanyl
Fifth grader Alton Banks was most likely exposed to the drug after he visited a swimming pool in the neighborhood of the Overtown region in Miami, Florida. However, investigators are still unsure how the drug went inside the child’s body.
Banks visited the pool on June 23 and after going back home started feeling sick. He began vomiting uncontrollably and was found unconscious in the evening. The hospital pronounced him dead when he was taken there for treatment.
Preliminary toxicology reports indicated that the boy had traces of fentanyl in his body. Miami State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle claimed that the investigators do not believe that Alton had found the drug in his home. She further stated that for the moment it was unclear what carried the fentanyl from which the boy was infected. She revealed that simply touching the drug would be enough to cause such tragic accidents.
Investigators claimed that the boy could have been exposed to the drug by using a contaminated towel at the pool.
Others feel that he could have also come in contact with used needles strewn in the streets in that area while walking back from the swimming pool. Police are still trying to piece together the last day of Alton’s life and what led to the fatal fentanyl ingestion.
Alton’s mother Shantell Banks was told of the preliminary toxicology report last week.
She was shocked by what it revealed and could not tell investigators where her ten-year old boy may have been exposed to such a dangerous opioid. The Florida Department of Children and Families said that it was conducting its own investigations, completely independent of the official Police investigations.
Fentanyl use on the rise
While the case of Alton Banks is especially horrific, the string of overdose deaths from fentanyl use is almost countless throughout the United States. Fentanyl has been used in some form or the other to treat cancer patients and those suffering from severe pain. However, now the drug is mainly used by people who are addicted to it.
Fentanyl is much more potent than simple heroin, which is why even the Police officers take extra precautions while handling the drug and do not touch it with bare hands. The drug is often mixed with heroin which creates an even more dangerous cocktail. All of the States in the country are taking some measure to end the opioid addiction which has gripped the U.S.
