On Thursday, a mother was charged with giving her 14-year-old daughter a fentanyl pill on October 3. She protests it was a mistake as she meant to give the child oxycodone instead for the ache, reports Fox2.
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Jacquelyn Powers of Missouri told Overland Police that she found the pill in her drawer and believed it to be oxycodone. She said she obtained such pills from a previous surgery. After giving her daughter the pill, she died after ten hours.
The autopsy confirmed that the daughter died from a fentanyl overdose. No oxycodone could be found in her system.
Powers told the police that it was her mother who purchased the fentanyl from the streets. In an effort to protect her mother, she traded the oxycodone for the fentanyl which she then placed in the drawer. If her story is to believed, this could be a tragic incident where Powers forgot about the swapped pills.
It was still a dangerous and reckless act to keep the drug in a drawer, however. St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office has charged Powers with endangering the welfare of a child and for her murder.
A warrant has been issued for her arrest.
Another Fentanyl Victim Is A Young Girl
Overland Police Department Capt. Jim Morgan said, "This is tragic. This shouldn't happen. She's 14, she had a lot of years to look forward to."
Executive director of the Assisted Recovery Centers of America, Aaron Laxton, said that this is a reminder to not leave use medications around the house. "In this instance, it was fentanyl, and certainly should not have been in the home in the first place."
He further warned the dangers of buying pills on the street. "We warn folks not to trust the street-pressed pills that are purchased out on the streets because you simply don't know what's in them."
Powers is being held on a $150,000 bond. Her next court hearing is November 19.
Fentanyl continues to be a problem across the states.
