Duplin County Deputies Say Children at North Carolina Daycare Allegedly Given Fentanyl
Every parent’s worst fear played out this week in Duplin County, North Carolina. Two kids at a Kenansville daycare ended up in the hospital after allegedly being given fentanyl pills.
According to deputies, the incident happened at Lou Anna’s Childcare Center in Kenansville. Deputies said the two children were given candy by an employee. However, it was later determined that the candy was thought to be fentanyl pills. The two children were treated and later released back into the care of their parents.
The daycare center – Lou Anna’s Childcare Center – is cooperating with the fentanyl investigation, Duplin County, North Carolina officials told ABC 11.
Fentanyl is deadly and has been sneaking its way into the mainstream, so much so that the DEA has issued a warning about brightly-colored fentanyl that is out there posing as candy (think Nerds candy) to target young people.
“Rainbow fentanyl—fentanyl pills and powder that come in a variety of bright colors, shapes, and sizes—is a deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a release. “The men and women of the DEA are relentlessly working to stop the trafficking of rainbow fentanyl and defeat the Mexican drug cartels that are responsible for the vast majority of the fentanyl that is being trafficked in the United States.”
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. Just two milligrams of fentanyl, which is equal to 10-15 grains of table salt, is considered a potentially lethal dose. Without laboratory testing, there is no way to know how much fentanyl is concentrated in a pill or powder.