PORTLAND - A 6-year-old boy was unconscious after apparently ingesting methadone in Southeast Portland Thursday.
Portland Police said the child was not breathing when paramedics arrived at the property on SE 44th and Knapp. The child was taken to Oregon Health and Science University by ambulance where he was being treated in the intensive care unit, authorities said.
Methadone is used to treat recovering drug addicts suffering from withdrawal symptoms. Investigators said the boy got the methadone from his parents' trailer.
"Most of these kids ingesting it have never been exposed to narcotics so it's a big dose and it's like taking an overdose of it," said Dr. Garth Meckler of Doernbecher Children's Hospital.
The police bureau's child abuse team has teamed up with the Department of Human Services on the case. It was not clear what, if any, charges the parents could face.
(KGW reporter Mike Benner contributed to this report.)
