HARTFORD, Conn. — Authorities have recovered 40 bags of fentanyl from a school in Connecticut where a 13-year-old student overdosed Thursday, according to multiple reports.
The student, a seventh-grader at the Sports and Medical Science Academy in Hartford, remained in grave condition Friday afternoon, Lt. Aaron Boisvert said, according to WTIC-TV. Two other students who were exposed to the drug were taken to the hospital after complaining of dizziness and were subsequently released, WFSB reported.
Authorities responded to the Sports and Medical Science Academy around 10:30 a.m. Thursday after a student collapsed in the gym, according to WTIC. A school nurse began CPR on the teenager before first responders arrived and managed to restore a heart rhythm, the news station reported.
Investigators later found bags of fentanyl stashed in two classrooms and the gym, according to WFSB. The bags contained the drug in powder form and appeared to be “packaged in what you would see in street-level sales,” Boisvert said, according to the Hartford Courant.
Fentanyl can be as many as 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Last year, the agency warned that as little as 2 milligrams of the opioid -- a dose small enough to fit on the tip of a pencil -- can be lethal.
Authorities believe the student who overdosed brought the fentanyl to school, the Courant reported. A search warrant has since been executed at the student’s home, and the student’s mother and the other two students exposed to the drug are cooperating with investigators, according to WFSB.
“This is one more lesson that fentanyl is a poison, these drugs are a poison,” Mayor Luke Bronin said, according to the news station. “Please, if you are a parent, have that tough conversation with your child tonight.”
The Sports and Medical Science Academy remained closed Friday as officials worked to clean and decontaminate the campus, the Courant reported. The school was expected to remain closed for days.
Authorities continue to investigate.
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