Three high school students were arrested near the United States-Mexico border in Arizona for possessing the dangerous drug fentanyl. One of the students who was arrested had more than 3,000 pills, while the total street value was nearly $50,000, according to the Daily Mail.
The students were 18-year-old Noemi Hernandez-Madrigal, 18-year-old Alessandra Cardenas-Hernandez, and a 16-year-old male.
“We happen to be a border city, so we’re on the front lines. It’s gonna be smuggled through our city,” Lt. Marco Santana said. “But the main thing here is that we continue to combat that opiate issue that we have, not just here.”
From the report:
Border authorities said they arrested a 16-year-old American boy at the border in September for trying to sneak dozens of fentanyl pills into the country by wrapping them around his legs. School nurses in San Luis also have the drug on hand, said Eric Patten, a spokesman for the students’ school district, Yuma Union High School District #70.
Exactly two years before the students’ arrests, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed an emergency declaration to address a growing number of fatal overdoses. The state instituted a number of measures, including training officers around the state to use a powerful spray that helps prevent death in people who are overdosing and new rules mandating how opioids can be prescribed.
Santana said his department has on-campus officers at all the schools and that all officers carry Narcan, the brand name for naloxone, an antidote to opioid overdoses.
“The arrests were certainly concerning for the district. As educators, you never want to see young people resort to that type of life-altering, negative decision,” Patten said.
The 16-year-old has not been identified because he is a minor.