A California junior high school official suffered an overdose after coming into contact with fentanyl pills a student had brought to school, according to police.
The reaction was so severe that the supervisor of Chipman Junior High School in Bakersfield had to be hospitalized.
Bakersfield police arrested an unidentified 13-year-old said to be in possession of 150 fentanyl pills along with $300 in cash, KGET-TV in Bakersfield reported.
The incident occurred Friday morning after the student was being searched following an altercation involving another student, police said.
Opening a bag, campus supervisor Richard Aguilar came in contact with the fentanyl, which was disguised as the pain reliever Percocet, according to The Bakersfield Californian.
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Although he didn’t ingest the fentanyl, Aguilar showed symptoms of an overdose, KGET reported. The fentanyl pills were described as an “inhalation hazard” by Robert Pair of the Bakersfield Police Department.
After police administered Narcan, the supervisor was hospitalized in stable condition, the report said.
It wasn’t known if students at the school received any of the pills, according to police.
The student in possession was taken to a juvenile hall after being charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell.
Are American children more at risk from drugs now than ever before?
Parents of Chipman Junior High students no doubt are relieved the effects of the drug apparently went no further than one individual.
Yet drug overdose deaths more than doubled from the beginning of 2015 through early this year, according to the National Vital Statistics System of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Of 107,375 who died of overdoses in the 12-month period ending in January, 67 percent stemmed from synthetic opioids, one of which is fentanyl, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
As the Bakersfield school official experienced, fentanyl is powerful.
“Only two milligrams of fentanyl is considered a potentially lethal dose; it’s particularly dangerous for someone who does not have a tolerance to opioids,” the DEA said on its website.
The danger of fentanyl — considered 50 times as powerful as heroin — was demonstrated on the Natural High website, which showed a fatal amount covering not even half of a point on a pencil.
While U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents work to keep the deadly drug out of the country, not everyone takes it seriously.
In June, a California court commissioner freed within 18 hours two men arrested and charged with possessing, selling and transporting 150,000 fentanyl pills.
Prior to being recalled by fed-up San Francisco voters, left-wing activist District Attorney Chesa Boudin reportedly declined to prosecute fentanyl dealers despite 500 deaths in that city in 2021.
In the no-bail fairyland of New York City, six men arrested for involvement in a huge East Coast drug operation involving fentanyl got their get-out-of-jail-free cards in January.
A year ago, the Biden administration called for reduced penalties for those convicted of selling fentanyl-related substances.
Of course, much of the fentanyl problem can be laid at the feet of President Joe Biden and his administration, since their refusal to ensure a secure U.S.-Mexico border makes drug and other forms of illegal trafficking much easier.
Parents of Chipman Junior High students who escaped the hazards of fentanyl this time might be outraged at the undermining of enforcement against the drug.
But they might want to keep it to themselves, lest the Biden Justice Department label them terrorists.
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