Seven elementary students in Amherst, Virginia, became sick and five were taken to an area hospital after ingesting gummy bears from a bag that later tested positive for fentanyl.
The Amherst County Sheriff’s Office said that the seven children who attend Central Elementary School had an “allergic reaction” to the gummy bears requiring two of them to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance, and three others were transported to the hospital by their parents, WSLS reported. Amherst County Public Schools (ACPS) released a statement on the incident, saying the bag that contained the gummy bears was brought to school by one of the students and was evaluated by authorities after the children became sick.
Initially, authorities said the gummies tested positive for fentanyl, but later clarified that only the bag had tested positive for the synthetic opioid and the gummies themselves had been sent out for further testing, according to ABC News.
“The Amherst County Sheriff’s Office conducted a field test on the bag that contained the items the students ingested. The results from the field test indicated a positive reaction for fentanyl,” the school district stated, adding. “The families of the students have been notified of the results.”
ACPS wrote in a social media post that the gummy bears were in a ziplock bag and the area where the students had eaten them was wiped down with sanitizer, according to WSLS.
Police arrested two people in connection with their investigation into the incident. Clifford Dugan and Nicole Sanders were both taken into custody and face multiple charges, Fox News reported. Both suspects were charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, while Dugan also faces a charge of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, and Sanders was charged with possession of a controlled substance.
Fentanyl overdoses are one of the leading causes of death for Americans with more than 73,000 people in the U.S. dying from the drug overdose in 2022. The danger of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, has skyrocketed in recent years as it is often trafficked illegally across the southern border by Mexican drug cartels.
According to the Texas Health and Human Services, fentanyl is around 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. It only takes around two milligrams of fentanyl — roughly the same as 10-15 grains of salt — to cause a fatal overdose. Often, fentanyl is cut with other drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine resulting in drug users ingesting the deadly synthetic opioid without even knowing.
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Authorities in the U.S. have also seized fentanyl-laced pills that look like candy. Among more than 220 pounds of drugs siezed in Massachusetts last month, the FBI found 20 pounds of pink, heart-shaped, fentanyl-laced pills that were “pressed to look like candy,” according to the Justice Department.
This article has been updated for clarity and to include additional information.