An 18-year-old Los Altos High School student has died in what the Mountain View Police Department is calling a "potential fentanyl poisoning."
The County of Santa Clara Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office identified the student as Lauren Brierly. Few details about the death have been released by law enforcement or school officials. Citing an ongoing investigation in its early stages, the police department said in a Friday, April 1, press release that it would be releasing limited information at this point.
"Please know we are working as quickly and thoroughly as possible to get you more information and to find out how this tragedy occurred," Mountain View police said. "As soon as we can share more, we will."
Law enforcement officials don't yet know how the student obtained the drug, nor whether other students may be in possession of narcotics, the press release stated. Police are urging parents to talk with their children about the dangers of illicit drug use.
"We know that a family is grieving, that a school community is grieving, and that we have pulled in every available resource to try and bring justice to the student and their family," police said.
In a message to families on Friday afternoon, the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District shared the news of the death, as well as offer grief support resources for students and staff next week, the district said. Students may also reach out to their counselor or an administrator for help. More resources are available at kara-grief.org or allcove.org/centers/palo-alto.
"We know that any loss, particularly that of a young person, is tragic," the school district said. "Our sincere condolences go out to the student’s family, friends and school community."
Anyone with information that might help the police department's investigation is being asked to contact Sgt. David Fisher at david.fisher@mountainview.gov.
Comments
Registered user
Shoreline West
on Apr 4, 2022 at 11:32 pm
Registered user
on Apr 4, 2022 at 11:32 pm
Horribly sad. Although we don't yet know the specifics the odds are quite strong this tragedy is the direct result of drug prohibition, which puts drug users at much greater risk since they have no way of knowing for certain what they are taking. The Voice's own accompanying photo suggests the issue is "fentanyl-laced pills," which means illegally-produced pills of unknown provenance and purity. Quite possibly, the victim thought he or she was taking something else, such as MDMA or some other relatively safe substance.
The best way to keep kids and everyone else safe it to decriminalize everything so recreational drugs are -- like the much more dangerous alcohol, with ~50,000 killed/year -- legal and regulated. That way, when people take them off-label or recreationally at least they can calculate their dosage appropriately and virtually eliminate the risk of serious harm or death.