The local sheriff is advising schools to have Narcan on hand after a 17-year-old in Florida was accused of giving a fatal amount of fentanyl to a classmate. The teenager has since been charged with manslaughter.
“We’re seeing fentanyl everywhere,” Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said. “This arrest proves it. They’re classmates. They know who to ring up, and they know who’s supplying what.”
In July, the victim was discovered comatose at his house with a white powdery substance around; however, the alleged drug dealer was detained Friday night on suspicion of manslaughter.
“You name it, he supplies it,” Sheriff Chitwood said of the minor defendant, whose text messages and other records allegedly showed he was selling drugs to the victim who attended DeLand High School on multiple occasions.
On July 31, members of the West Volusia Narcotics Task Force found and detained the suspect. He was detained on suspicion of fentanyl delivery, possession of cannabis with the intent to distribute, and illegal use of a two-way communication device at the time he was allegedly in possession of roughly one gramme of fentanyl and one pound of marijuana.
“So clearly he’s an aspiring pharmaceutical salesman,” Chitwood said.
Chitwood then recommended that schools always have naloxone, often known as Narcan, on hand for emergency situations.
“Any school district that wants to deploy this can do it with no cost,” Chitwood said while holding up a box of Narcan, which can be given as a nasal spray or injected into muscle or veins, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The Volusia County Schools school district reported its first overdose death of the year with this one. Orlando’s FOX 35 reported. Narcan is not currently carried in the district.
