Moss Side Middle School mom says her son was given Suboxone by another student
MONROEVILLE, Pa. (KDKA) — An investigation is underway at Moss Side Middle School after a student's mother said her son was given Suboxone by another student.
The boy's mother said her son put the pill in his mouth thinking it was a mint. Turns out, it was Suboxone, the boy's mom said.
"He said he knew it wasn't a mint, and this is what he actually tried to ingest. But he instantly spit it out," said Raven Palmer of Pitcairn.
Palmer showed KDKA-TV one of the two white pills she said a middle school student gave her son, Phillip Davis, on Monday. The student, she said, told her son they were mints. But Palmer said it was Suboxone, a medication used to treat opioid addiction.
"I put one in my mouth and I was like it didn't taste like a mint," Davis said. "So I spit it back out and put it in my pocket. I didn't think anything of it."
An hour later, Davis went to the nurse's office after pains in his head and stomach. He went back to class but said things got worse when he got home.
"When I got off the bus, I was hot," Davis said. "I was sweaty. My legs were like noodles. I was walking up the hill and I was a little dizzy."
"The way he was sweating, it looked like he was fresh out of the shower," Palmer said. "Projectile throwing up, stomach bothering him."
The boy was taken to a local hospital, where doctors confirmed it was suboxone, the mother said.
Gateway's superintendent, William Short, said the district is investigating and Monroeville police are not involved yet.
"We want to take a look at the film, which we are currently doing, and also allow for individuals to be talked to about what and if they had these pills and what they were doing," Short said.
"I'm pressing charges," Palmer said. "I'm going the extra mile because at the end of the day if I don't make this a big deal, it's going to get swept under the rug."
KDKA-TV talked to a toxicology expert who said based "on the reported symptoms and exposure, it would be unlikely an exposure to buprenorphine this brief and resulting in most or all of a pill being spit out would result in significant symptoms.
"The symptoms described here are also not consistent with what I would expect from buprenorphine and would also be potentially explained by other things like anxiety."