MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (KRON) -- A Mountain View family and the Los Altos High School community are grieving this weekend.
Early Friday morning, Mountain View police were made aware of a student found unresponsive because of a possible fentanyl poisoning, KRON4 previously reported.
KRON4 spoke with officials about why fentanyl is like nothing they've ever dealt with before.
While this fentanyl poisoning is hitting the Los Altos High School community particularly hard right now, officials say it's a region-wide concern.
It's often laced in other narcotics or drugs and even the tiniest dose could be deadly.
Mountain View police public information officer, Katie Nelson, says this is still an open investigation, but based on items found at the scene, they believe it could be a fentanyl poisoning.
"The thing about fentanyl that parents need to be aware of is that it can be in anything a student or really anyone can have in their possession," Nelson said.
Nelson says police want to get this message out there to potentially save other lives.
"At least as many people as possible knew about this in the event that there were other narcotics out there have parents talk with their kids or have students who may be in possession think twice," Nelson said.
Dr. Christopher Colwell is the chief of emergency medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.
He says he has been in emergency medicine for 25 years but never has faced the challenges that fentanyl is presenting.
"The risk of there being added or tainted with fentanyl is so much higher because it's so available, inexpensive and it can be added to anything."
He also says it's very potent and a little goes a long way.
"You can put a little bit of fentanyl in a large amount of product," Colwell said. "The problem is if you're off by just a decimal point. It can have a fatal effect."
Olga Novikoa is a parent of a Los Altos student, and she says it's important to have an open dialogue with your children about these types of situations.
"I teach them not to take anything from strangers or from their classmates," Novikoa said.
Police tell me that the coroner is still working on determining the exact cause of death of the student.
from KRON4 https://ift.tt/PVdr15n
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