On December 13, 2023, 7 elementary school students in Amherst Virginia fell sick after eating a plastic baggie of gummy bears that tested positive for fentanyl.  Clifford Dugan and Nicole Sanders have been arrested for connection to the incident.  Teachers reportedly thought that the students were having an allergic reaction, but the students later tested positive for the opioid fentanyl.

In an interview with CNN on December 13th, in 2023, Amherst county Sheriff’s office Spokesperson Dallas Hill said, “Preliminary investigation shows the students ingested gummy bears from a plastic baggie. In that baggie contained a residue, and the residue tested positive for fentanyl.”  On the same day of the incident, police conducted a search of Clifford Dougan’s in Amherst.  He was later arrested for possession of a firearm and, according to jail records, “delinquency, abuse of a child.”  Nicole Sanders was arrested as well on accounts of contributing to the “delinquency, abuse of a child,” and possessing Schedule I or Schedule II narcotics.  She is being held on $1,000 and $1,500 in bonds.  As of Thursday, December 14th, the 7 fourth grade students have been discharged from the hospital.  The symptoms of the students were reported to be nausea, vomiting, headache and muscle spasms. “It is believed that at some point the bag came into contact with fentanyl and trace amounts remained on/in the bag,”  Central Elementary school Superintendent Dr. William Wells sent to CNN News in an email on Wednesday.