America Can Do More To Protect Its Children From Opioid Overdose | Opinion

Like countless other parents of small children across this country, I was shaken in learning about the circumstances surrounding the death of Nicholas Dominici at a Bronx daycare facility. The 1-year-old was exposed to fentanyl, a highly potent opiate that is 100 times more potent than morphine. Three other children at the Divino Niño nursery were also found to have been sickened by exposure to the drug, which prosecutors alleged was serving as a front for a drug distribution ring.

As sick and perverse as it is to think that drug traffickers would use a nursery as a front for their illegal operations, the real issue that this story brings to light is that inadvertent exposure to opioids is a real risk for children everywhere. In 2021, a 3-year-old died after accidentally coming into contact with a family member's fentanyl patch. And last year, a 10-month-old nearly died after ingesting fentanyl while playing at a park. According to the Yale School of Medicine, in 2021 alone, there were 133 deaths from fentanyl among children younger than 5 years old. Moreover, between 1999 and 2021, over a third of all the 13,861 fatal pediatric opioid poisonings in the U.S. were caused by fentanyl overdose.

Let's put that last number in perspective: Over the past 25 years, America has had nearly twice as many children die from inadvertent exposure to fentanyl than all those who perished in the attacks of 9/11. That's a lot of funerals with little caskets.

But as the recent tragedy in the Bronx underscores, we are nowhere near resolving this issue; in fact, the problem only seems to be getting worse. According to the same Yale publication, since 2013, pediatric deaths from fentanyl have risen 3,000 percent.

So, what are we going to do? It's not as if the traditional playbook for addressing teen or adult opioid dependence will work. These are children who are simply playing or sleeping in the wrong place and somehow encounter these highly potent substances—often only trace amounts of it. It only takes an amount equivalent to one grain of sand of Carfentanil—another opioid drug that is 100 times as potent as fentanyl—to kill an adult. Far less is needed to prove lethal to a small child.

There are no simple answers. As long as there is an opioid epidemic in this country, there will be ample opportunities for children to inadvertently come into contact with these drugs. As a result of the recent decision by the FDA to approve Naloxone (commonly known as Narcan) as an over-the-counter (OTC) nasal spray that rapidly counters the effects of opioid overdose for people of all ages, there is now an easily-accessible product that all commercial establishments, businesses, and public venues should have on hand. Just as they already have a variety of other emergency safety tools such as first aid kits and fire extinguishers, OTC Naloxone nasal sprays should be available. Nowhere is this needed more urgently than in daycare facilities, schools and other places frequented by young children.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which regulates workplace safety, doesn't issue first aid kit content lists for business and will unlikely wade into the matter of requiring Naloxone. It will truly be up to state and local authorities to drive any meaningful change.

The recent global opioid settlement deal with the pharmaceutical industry that will pay out over $50 billion to states and local governments to spend toward tackling the epidemic over the next 18 years should give elected officials the wherewithal to not only mandate that businesses have Naloxone on site, but also offset some or all of the costs of doing so with their settlement dollars. Lorraine Martin, the president and CEO of the National Safety Council, has been blunt in her assessment of what should come next: "Now that it is available over the counter, Naloxone should be in every workplace," she told Bloomberg Law.

State and local leaders will have access to a lot of opioid dollars over the coming years. It would be wise if they remembered Nicholas Dominici and the myriad other cases of innocent kids needlessly swept up in this epidemic when thinking about where to spend it.

Arick Wierson is a six-time Emmy Award-winning television producer and served as a senior media and political adviser to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He advises corporate clients on communications strategies in the United States, Africa, and Latin America.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.