SANTA CRUZ — Police detectives are investigating an “alarming” drug case that left a 12-year-old woman overdosing on fentanyl in a metropolis park, authorities mentioned.
Emergency responders referred to as shortly after 3:30 p.m. Feb. 19 to a restroom at Depot Park, the place they found the younger woman unconscious and in want of the opioid-overdose antidote naloxone, in line with Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Jon Bush.
“Clearly a really uncommon and alarming incident for one, a 12-year-old to be getting their fingers on and utilizing fentanyl and two that there’s individuals on the market keen to offer or promote to people who younger,” Bush mentioned.
Fentanyl is a robust, artificial, short-acting narcotic drug, utilized in medical settings for extreme ache and as a common anesthetic. The opioid painkiller is many instances extra highly effective than heroin and incessantly seems as an unlawful avenue drug combined with different substances. Fentanyl overdose-related deaths in Santa Cruz County have been on the rise since mid-2020, with associated deaths starting to skew towards youthful age teams in 2022, in line with a presentation given by Santa Cruz County Medical Pathologist Dr. Stephany Fiore at December’s annual county drug traits discussion board.
Bush advised the Sentinel that the affected person and one other 12-year-old woman accompanying her, each of Santa Cruz, had been uncooperative with police concerning the particulars main as much as the overdose. Nevertheless, a police investigation signifies that one of many women organized to fulfill an unknown man close to a downtown parking construction with a purpose to buy suspected fentanyl. The women, he mentioned, had been unaccompanied and unsupervised by any adults on the time. Detectives are trying to trace down video surveillance footage within the space that can enable them to establish and observe down the drug provider, Bush mentioned.
After touring to Depot Park, the place the overdose occurred, the woman’s buddy referred to as 911, Bush mentioned. After receiving care, the affected person was launched to the custody of her mom and was anticipated to obtain substance use remedy companies, he mentioned. The state’s “Good Samaritan Legislation” supplies restricted safety from arrest, cost and prosecution for individuals who search emergency medical help on the scene of a suspected drug overdose.