Bellingham school officials are warning staff, students and families about the synthetic opioid fentanyl after an incident where gum or candy was found laced with the potentially deadly prescription drug.
Superintendent Greg Baker sent an email describing the incident that happened Thursday, April 20, at Kulshan Middle School, and involved what looked like gum or gummy candy in a plastic bag.
"In working closely with Bellingham Police, they tested the gummies and found that they were laced with fentanyl, A17 (an opioid) and GHB (a psychoactive controlled substance commonly used as a date-rape drug)," Baker said in his email.
A photo with his statement showed light green squares of candy that were coated with a white powder.
"They looked and smelled like mint gum," Baker said.
School spokeswoman Dana Smith told The Bellingham Herald that she didn't know if anyone was injured or arrested as a result of the incident.
Fentanyl, which was nearly unheard of five years ago, has now become the street drug of choice because it's cheap, easy to get, and easy to use, according to previous Herald reporting.
It's a synthetic opioid, a prescription painkiller that's about 50 times more powerful than heroin, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
It comes in pills that can be taken orally or smoked, and doesn't need to be injected like heroin, according to the National Library of Medicine.
But its euphoric high also suppresses the respiratory drive and users can simply stop breathing.
In his letter, Baker said that Bellingham high schools and middle schools now have Narcan available, a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
It's easy to administer and has no known side effects, according to officials with the Whatcom County emergency services system.
"Kulshan has told students not to share gum or candy; they are giving a lesson today to students about the risks and dangers of fentanyl. We will share these lessons with all schools," Baker said.
"We share this information to ask for your help in being vigilant and talking with your child(ren) about the danger of this drug," he said.
Accurate overdose and overdose death figures for 2023 were not immediately unavailable, but Bellingham firefighters are treating patients for suspected overdoses at the rate of 2.5 a day this year, Mayor Seth Fleetwood told the City Council at an April 10 meeting.
Both a 15-year-old girl and a 5-year-old girl have died in recent weeks from apparent fentanyl overdoses., according to previous Herald reporting.
As recently as 2019 — one year before the pandemic — there were 17 total deaths by overdose in Whatcom County, with four linked to fentanyl, according to data from the medical examiner.
Total overdose deaths in Whatcom County increased to 89 in 2022, up from 50 in 2021, according to the Whatcom County Medical Examiner's Office.
A little more than half those overdose deaths were linked to fentanyl, records show.
