A special education teacher is facing drug charges after officers in Oregon arrested her for possession of meth and heroin, which she brought onto school property.
Deputies from the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office were called Tuesday to Alder Creek Middle School after officials spotted the special education teacher, 33-year-old Brynne Marie Fletcher, acting suspiciously in the parking lot. Officers said she was seen behaving strangely, making repeated trips from the building to her car, reports KATU.
After searching Fletcher’s car, police found methamphetamine and heroin. Police arrested Fletcher Tuesday, charging her with possession of a controlled substance. Officials from the school released a statement expressing their “disappointment” over the incident. Oddly enough, Fletcher submitted her resignation to school officials before the arrest Tuesday.
“Ms. Fletcher, a teacher who works with a very small group of students on specialized instruction, recently submitted her resignation prior to this incident effective at the end of the 2016-17 school year,” explained a statement from officials at North Clackamas School District. “As a result of this incident, Ms. Fletcher is on administrative leave pending further investigation.”
The National Center for Health Statistics said Feb. 24 the massive increase in heroin and general opioid abuse in the U.S. since 2010 is driven by lower drug prices and ever higher potency. The introduction of the opiate-based painkiller fentanyl, known to be 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine, is also blamed for helping spark the current epidemic.
A record 33,000 Americans died from opioid related overdoses in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Opioid deaths contributed to the first drop in U.S. life expectancy since 1993 and eclipsed deaths from motor vehicle accidents in 2015. Combined, heroin, fentanyl and other opiate-based painkillers account for roughly 63 percent of drug fatalities, which claimed 52,404 lives in the U.S. in 2015.
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