PORTLAND, OR -- Oregon researchers say young children are getting treated for exposure to fentanyl at an alarming rate. OHSU’s Oregon Poison Center saw 16 cases of fentanyl exposure in kids under age six in 2023. In 2021, the number was just two and in 2020 there were zero.

Poison Center Director Dr. Robert Hendrickson studied the data going back to 2016 and says it mirrors a national trend, "I think this is related to fentanyl being available to the community. We didn’t see pediatric fentanyl cases until fentanyl was introduced in the illicit drug market." In Oregon, 93% of pediatric exposures to illicit fentanyl occurred in the child’s home. 

While fentanyl is extremely dangerous for adults, he says it’s even more deadly for children, "A child who ingests 3,000 or 4,000 micrograms of fentanyl is 50 times the dose they should get, which is different from most other people." The effects of fentanyl exposure on kids include loss of consciousness, stopping breathing and brain injury. Dr. Hendrickson says anyone using fentanyl or other opioids should have a Naloxone kit, "I would not hesitate for a second to give the exact same dose to a child that you’re giving an adult or to use an adult Naloxone kit."

Dr. Hendrickson urges parents to lock up medicine, drugs and other poisonous substances.