Two 15-year-olds and 16-year-olds were arrested Thursday in connection with the sale of fentanyl-laced pills that caused the death of a 15-year-old girl and three other juvenile overdose hospitalizations this week in Los Angeles, California.
Experts also warn of two new drugs on the streets, more powerful than fentanyl, which are aggravating the overdose epidemic.
The 15-year-old is suspected of selling the pills and has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, Los Angeles Police Chief Michael Moore said.
Several fentanyl pills were found on him when he was arrested at his grandmother's home, according to Moore.
The 16-year-old was charged with selling narcotics in Lexington Park.
"Be very careful": the death of a teenager reignites concerns about fentanyl in the country
Sept.
14, 202201:43
Both were students at APEX Academy, a public school that is independent of the Los Angeles Unified School District and shares the campus with Bernstein, police said.
The deceased minor was identified as Melanie Ramos.
She was found unconscious in the school bathrooms on Tuesday.
“They don't know and the people who give them [the pills] obviously aren't going to tell them what they're giving them, what reaction can happen.
They cheated on her," said Ramos' mother, who asked to be identified only as Helena, in an interview with Noticias Telemundo.
"She was very kind, very polite, very affectionate," she said.
Melanie Ramos, 15 years old.
Telemundo News
Experts warn that two dangerous drugs are infiltrating more and more, very powerful and can cause fatal overdoses.
One of them is a class of synthetic opioid, called
nitazene,
which can be up to 10 times more potent than fentanyl (which is already 50 times more potent than heroin).
The Tennessee Department of Health released data Thursday showing an increase in fatal overdoses linked to nitazene in recent years.
In 2019 there were none in the state, in 2020 there were 10, and in 2021 there were 42 overdose deaths.
Two girls found dead of drug overdose at California school
Sept.
14, 202200:30
Experts are also warning about
xylazine
, a non-opioid animal tranquilizer, which has been found mixed with fentanyl.
"That's a potential disaster," she told NBC News Erin Tracy of the University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center.
Xylazine
is used to sedate horses, dogs, and other animals
before surgery.
When toxicological analyzes are done, this substance is not usually looked for. But it is increasingly found mixed with injectable drugs.
It is often referred to as
tranq
or
tranq dop
e.
People who consume it tend to fall into a state of unconsciousness for hours.
One million fentanyl pills seized in Los Angeles County
July 15, 202201:30
"This deep sedation leaves people in really unsafe places," making them vulnerable to sexual assault and robbery, said Laura Kehoe, director of the Puente Substance Use Disorder Clinic at Massachusetts General Hospital.
The sedative effects of xylazine are so powerful that a person can suffocate, for example, if they lie face down on a pillow, added Joseph D'Orazio, a professor of medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia.
The drug has also been linked to reports of skin abscesses, not unlike cases seen in other injection drug users.
In some cases, the wounds are so severe that they need to be amputated.
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