14-YEAR-OLD TRAGICALLY PASSES AFTER TAKING FENTANYL TO TREAT A TOOTHACHE

A mother from Missouri has been arrested and charged in connection with her daughter's death after giving her a pill she discovered in her drawer. Ten hours after complaining to her mother about a toothache, the teen died from a fentanyl overdose, according to the results of an autopsy.

On October 3, the 14-year-old, who has not yet been given a name, complained of a toothache to her mother, Jacquelyn Powers, 35, who goes by "Jackie." Powers was charged with felony death of a child and endangering the welfare of a child after being taken into custody outside her home in the city of Overland, St. Louis County, on Friday, November 8. According to an autopsy, the teen died from a fentanyl overdose after having high levels of the drug in her blood.

Approximately 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, the drug is a severe analgesic that is frequently abused in the United States. On the battlefield, it was also used to treat World War II casualties. According to Powers, she thought the medication she gave her daughter was oxycodone.

Oxycodone is classified as an opioid painkiller by the NHS. It is used to treat extreme pain, such as pain from cancer or after surgery or a severe injury.

According to court documents, Powers acknowledged that she had oxycodone in the house from prior surgery, but she also acknowledged that, to "protect her," she exchanged some of the pills for those the young girl's grandmother had purchased from a street vendor. The oxycodone and fentanyl were kept in the same drawer. Overland Police Department Capt. Jim Morgan, said per the Daily Mail: "This is tragic. This shouldn’t happen. She's 14, she had a lot of years to look forward to."

Aaron Laxton, the executive director of the Assisted Recovery Centers of America, reminded locals that fentanyl and other drugs shouldn't be kept in a family home and urged them to learn from the tragedy. "In this case, it was fentanyl, and it definitely shouldn't have been in the house in the first place," he told Fox.

“We warn folks not to trust the street-pressed pills that are purchased out on the streets because you simply don’t know what’s in them."