3 charged with criminal negligence after toddler dies from opioid overdose: Edmonton police

A toddler boy's mother, her common-law partnerand a family friend have been charged in connection to the child's death, after toxicology results showed he overdosed, police say.

The 23-month-old boy died in September after ingesting amounts of several strong opioids, police say. The toddler's 34-year-old mother, her 26-year-old common-law partner and one of the mother's friends a 20-year-old woman were each recently charged with criminal negligence causing death, following an investigation.

"Children of this age very commonly arevictims of poisoning because they sample the world with their mouths and their hands," Dr. Darren Markland, an intensive care physician at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton, told CBC News.

"Whether it's prescription medications or opiates, without proper supervision and care, a child can do this very easily."

The mother allowed her friend to take the boy for a walk near the family's west Edmonton home on Sept. 15 but the woman soon returnedbecause the child startedshowing signs of medical distress, police said in a news release issued Thursday.

Over several hours, the child's mother, her partner who was not the biological father and friend tried to remedy the boy's medical distress, police say. Theywere unsuccessful, however, and took the child to a nearby clinic.

A clinic staff member noticed the child was unresponsive and called 911, police say. Paramedics transported the boy to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner performed an autopsy on Sept. 19, which includedtoxicology testing.

Edmonton police say they did not receive toxicology results until Nov. 17. The tests confirmed the cause of death was an overdoseofcarfentanil, fentanyland p-fluorofentanyl; the manner of death was accidental ingestion.

Police did not specify how the child ingested the drugs.

"I don't think the stigma should be attached specifically to the drug, more the circumstances around the ingestion," Marklandsaid.

The mother's friend was arrested on Dec. 11, police say. The mother and her partner turned themselves in on Dec. 27.

Each person was charged withcriminal negligence causing death, police say.

Police say they withheld the names of the child and the three adults to protect the identities of other children in the family.

Thursday's news comes less than a month after an inquiry into the death of Briella Johanne Brooks, a 33-day-old baby girl who died of a drug poisoning in 2019. She was found unresponsive in the living room of her family's home, locatedin the Edmonton's Sherbrooke neighbourhood.

The official cause of Brooks' death was methamphetamine toxicity. The manner of death was deemed accidental.

It remains unclear how the baby ingested the drug, an illicit and potent stimulant.