One side effect of the opioid epidemic ravaging our country is that more and more children are getting ahold of the dangerous medications and accidentally overdosing. Here are some of the stories behind the statistics:

Two-year-old swallows opioid pill
In Weymouth, Massachusetts, a 2-year-old girl was hospitalized after swallowing a synthetic opioid pill. If parent s have a prescription for these they need to keep them well guarded. A single pill of some of these medications is enough to kill a small child, and opioid overdoses involving children are on the rise. (USA Today, 1-9-2018, 4A)

5-year-old dies from fentanyl residue
A 5-year-old boy died of accidental fentanyl exposure after the mother’s boyfriend packaged drugs on the family’s kitchen table earlier that day. They apparently didn’t clean up too well, and the boy was somehow exposed. He laid down for a nap and never woke up again. (Lowery, W., 2022, “The epidemic killing black men,” Men’s Health,, Dec., pp. 89-95)