2-year-old Arizona boy dies from ingesting fentanyl; father charged in case

A Phoenix man has been charged in connection with the death of his 2-year-old son who ingested fentanyl, court records show.

Oswaldo Lozano, 27, was charged Tuesday with child abuse and drug possession, according to the records. It's unclear whether he has entered a plea to the charges, and a message left at the law office of his attorney by USA TODAY was not immediately returned Tuesday.

Court records say that Lozano fell asleep while watching his son on Friday and woke to find the toddler unresponsive and lying next to light blue M30 pills. He gave his son CPR and more than one dose of Narcan – a drug that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose – before driving him to a nearby hospital, where the boy was pronounced dead.

In an interview with police, Lozano admitted his dependency to fentanyl pills, saying that he takes them multiple times a day, according to court records.

He was booked into Maricopa County jail on multiple charges, including negligent homicide, which did not get filed in a complaint by prosecutors.

What is fentanyl?

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, the according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Fentanyl works by binding to the body's opioid receptors located in the area of the brain that control pain and emotions, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

There are two types of fentanyl: pharmaceutical fentanyl and illegally made fentanyl. Pharmaceutical fentanyl is prescribed by doctors to treat severe pain, but usually not the cause of fentanyl-related deaths. Most cases of overdoses are linked to illegally made fentanyl, often added to other drugs to make them cheaper and more addictive, the CDC says.

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Why is fentanyl so dangerous?

After taking fentanyl long enough, a person's sensitivity to the drug diminishes, making it hard to feel pleasure from anything else, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Addiction happens rapidly and sometimes accidentally. The CDC warns that heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine are often laced with fentanyl. The opioid is also made into pills to resemble other prescription painkillers.

Moreover, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency warned of the dangers of colorful fentanyl dubbed "rainbow fentanyl," purposefully crafted by drug cartels to look like candy to target young people.

The DEA says that overdose symptoms include:

• stupor
• changes in pupil size
• clammy skin
• choking or gurgling sounds
• limp body
• coma
• respiratory failure leading to death

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How many people have died from fentanyl?

Over 110,000 people in the U.S. died from drug overdoses in 2022, the CDC reported. Nearly 70% of those deaths were caused by synthetic opioids, mostly fentanyl, with 70,601 overdose deaths reported.

Fentanyl is deadly even in small doses. The CDC reports that over 150 people die every day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl.

New data in Arizona shows that fentanyl is to blame for all deadly opioid overdoses in children last year.