Toddler Finds Folded Dollar Bill Stuffed With Fentanyl

A 13-month-old child tried to play with fentanyl when he found a wrap containing the opioid on the ground during a family vacation in Alabama.

The toddler stumbled across a folded dollar bill, with the white powder inside it, in the parking lot of an outdoor venue in Orange Beach on Tuesday, according to local news channel WALA.

His mom picked up the bill before her son could grab it and placed it out of reach on a table, unaware of what it contained—which is when the toddler's dad began to examine it.

The toddler's granddad, Randy Turner, told WALA that his son-in-law, who was sitting beside him, "was going to unfold it and put it in his billfold. It could have been really bad because that would have gotten all over every one of us.

"He just reached over and got the dollar and was starting to unfold it. And my son said, 'Whoa, whoa! Wait a minute, wait a minute!' He said, 'Don't touch that dollar!'"

The son, Jake Turner, had seen a warning on social media about drugs being hidden in folded bills so he flicked the money across the table, which is when the horrified family saw the white powder filter out.

Jake Turner told WALA: "I've seen on Facebook. Stuff's been put on that. [I'd heard] be careful of dollars that's laced with fentanyl and stuff like that, but I never thought I'd see it."

The family told security officials, who called the police to investigate. A field test confirmed the white substance was fentanyl.

It is unclear whether the wrap had been hidden for somebody to collect or dropped accidentally.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration describes fentanyl as "a synthetic opioid that is 50-100 times stronger than morphine. Pharmaceutical fentanyl was developed for pain management treatment of cancer patients, applied in a patch on the skin. Because of its powerful opioid properties, Fentanyl is also diverted for abuse.

"Many users believe that they are purchasing heroin and actually don't know that they are purchasing fentanyl—which often results in overdose deaths."

Officers from Orange Beach Police Department kept the Turner family under observation for a while to make sure none of them had suffered any ill-effects from the drug, then they were deemed safe to leave.

The department said fentanyl-laced money had been found across the U.S., but this was the first case in the Orange Beach area.

Lt. Trent Johnson said: "We have visitors from all over the country in our area, [so] please be careful. If you see money folded up on the ground and it doesn't look normal, don't pick it up. Leave it alone. If you suspect anything suspicious, please call your local law enforcement."

Newsweek has reached out to Orange Beach Police Department.

The near-miss in Alabama comes just days after a Tennessee sheriff warned parents about the hidden dangers inside folded dollar bills. After two wraps were found in Giles County, Sheriff Kyle Helton said a tiny smudge of powder smaller than a penny "is more than enough to kill anyone that it comes into contact with."

He urged parents not to let their children "pick up any folded money they may find in or around businesses, playgrounds, etc., without using great caution and even alerting a parent or guardian."

The Orange Beach incident is not the first time a young child has stumbled across dangerous drugs. In January, an Ohio toddler died and another was poisoned when they accidentally ingested fentanyl. Their parents have been charged with manslaughter, along with child endangering and drug trafficking.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its latest figures on drug overdose deaths last November. The CDC said the death toll from opioids, "primarily fentanyl," was 75,673 people in the 12 months to April 2021, up from 56,064 the year before.

After the report was released, President Joe Biden vowed to crack down on the opioid crisis.