The current victim of opioid epidemic is a 10-month-old baby in Massachusetts. Police were called around 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the baby's home when the baby was having trouble breathing.
She was rushed to Lawrence General Hospital, where the baby stopped breathing twice and had to be revived. Later on, she was airlifted to Tufts Medical Center in Boston. She is now in stable condition.
Authorities say that the test results show that the baby had potent synthetic opioid fentanyl in her system.
The Department of Children and Families says it has taken custody of the baby. The incident remains under investigation.
Methuen Mayor Stephen Zanni said in a release Monday. that the opioid epidemic knows no boundaries. People must continue to be more vigilant in ensuring that children will not have access to dangerous drugs.
He also encourages people to do everything to fight the disease addiction.
One relative told CBS News that the baby is doing fine and could be released from the hospital today.
Methuen Police Lt. Michael Pappalardo said there were "numerous items of interest that were looked at" in the home. However, he did not confirm whether or not there were drugs found in the baby's home.
No one was arrested regarding the incident.
Methuen Police added that they have seized 14 kilos of fentanyl with the street value of roughly $1.2 million elsewhere in the city Monday.
Furthermore, it has been years the country experience overdose outbreak related to drugs. This urged the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to issue a nationwide alert about the dangers of fentanyl in 2015.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, increased by 80 percent from 2013 to 2014. In 2014, roughly 5,500 people died from overdose involving this dangerous drug.
According to the Boston Globe, fentanyl is a powerful synthetic pain killer often illegally produced in China, Mexico and other countries. Later on smuggled into the United States.
Police Chief Joseph Solomon described the case as "an extremely unfortunate situation in which a dangerous drug has ended up in the wrong hands and placed a baby's life in danger."
Opioid epidemic has already killed thousands of people. People should be more vigilant and aware of harmful drugs like fentanyl. This way people could prevent endangering the lives of adults and children.
