Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD faced its second apparent fentanyl overdose in the past several weeks on Tuesday.
A letter from DeWitt Perry Middle School in Carrollton informed parents that officials administered Narcan to a 13-year-old who was “unresponsive in class” during school hours on April 4. They were in the eighth grade, WFAA reported.
Narcan is a drug designed to stop and reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
Since September, three students have died, and six have been hospitalized from the effects of fentanyl overdoses in the school district. The deaths and overdoses were apparently linked to a drug house operating near a school, The Dallas Express reported.
Wednesday’s incident was the second in the school district in about a month. As previously reported in The Dallas Express, a 15-year-old female at nearby R.L. Turner High School was found unconscious in a bathroom stall on March 3 and received a dose of Narcan.
Carlos Quintanilla, an activist and Democratic candidate for Congress, shared his frustration on Facebook with Carrollton’s city and school board leaders about their responses to the fentanyl crisis.
“Parents of these Students must be outraged with this killer crisis. Sadly, Parents prefer to ignore this reality as long as it doesn’t affect them directly. Where are the politicians? Where is the Board of Directors? Let the Superintendent face [the issue]; let the mayor of Carrollton and Farmers Branch answer.
“Their plan is not working, and the parents’ response is worse than pathetic!” he accused.
Fentanyl overdoses have skyrocketed over the past decade, transforming the drug’s prevalence and deadliness into a national crisis.
According to Injury Facts, in 2021 106,699 Americans died of drug-related overdoses.
Of those, 67,325 — 63% — were fentanyl-related.
The distribution of illegal fentanyl to young children and in schools is particularly concerning.
In February, the Department of Justice charged two men with fentanyl conspiracy after the pair were accused of supplying fentanyl to at least 10 Carrollton juveniles who later overdosed — three fatally — between September 2022 and February 2023.
If convicted, the men each face up to 20 years in prison.
Drug trafficking is also a concern in Dallas, where City leaders have been unable to get a handle on the city’s crime problem. As of Thursday, April 6, drug offenses reported in the city limits were up 7.6% year to date, according to the City of Dallas Open Data crime analytics dashboard.
The Dallas Express contacted Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD for comment but did not receive a response by the time of this article’s publication.