Opioid Epidemic Claims The Life Of A Ten-Year-Old Boy

A ten-year-old boy in Miami, Florida has died of a fentanyl overdose, making him one of the youngest victims of big pharma’s war on the people.

As the opioid crisis sweeps across the nation leaving all classes and ages of people dead in its wake, many are still unable to grasp the horrors of the drug, fentanyl. Authorities claim that they have no idea how Alton Banks, who was only ten years old, managed to come in contact with the powerful painkiller that took his life.

Alton began vomiting at his home June 23 after visiting the pool in the Overtown section of Miami. He was found unconscious that evening and was pronounced dead at a hospital. Assistant Miami Fire Chief Pete Gomez told the Associated Press he has seen a spike in overdoses over the past year in Overtown, a poor, high-crime neighborhood where needles sometimes litter the streets. “There is an epidemic,” Gomez said. “Overtown seems to have the highest percentage of where these incidents are occurring.”

Deadly amounts of heroin, fenanyl, and carfentanyl

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon that she does not believe the boy found the opioid that killed him at his home. “We don’t believe he got it at his home,” Rundle told reporters.”It could be as simple as touching it. It could have been a towel at the pool … We just don’t know.” Yet doctors continue to prescribe the drug at the demands and amidst paybacks from big pharma.

“This is of such great importance. We need to solve this case,” she said. “I believe this may be the youngest victim of this scourge in our community.” Authorities are retracing the boy’s steps to and from the pool. The three-block walk between the pool and Alton’s home took him down streets that appeared relatively clean Tuesday, but on the block in the other direction from his home, trash littered the pavement and empty lots. Homeless people slept in the shade of an Interstate 95 overpass.

Fentanyl is a synthetic painkiller that has been used for decades to treat cancer patients and others in severe pain. But recently it has been front-and-center in the U.S. opioid abuse crisis. Perhaps best known as the drug that killed pop star Prince, it is many times stronger than heroin. Dealers often mix it with heroin, a combination that has often proved lethal. Fentanyl is so powerful that some police departments have warned officers not to even touch it. Last year, three police dogs in Broward County got sick after sniffing the drug during a federal raid, officials said.

With opioid overdose deaths on the rise, many are blaming those who become addicted to the drug. But this boy was ten-years-old and could have died from simply touching the substance. He is sadly one more victim in the crisis created and funded by big pharma.

Our thoughts go out to the family of young Alton Banks.