. Sheila Scott, a Briton){kind=link}
The death of the actor Robert De Niro’s teenage grandson from a suspected fentanyl overdose is a stark reminder of the dangers of the synthetic opioid, a bereaved mother has said.
Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, 19, was found dead in a flat on Wall Street, in Manhattan, on Sunday, police in New York said.
While a cause of death is yet to be determined, Leandro’s mother, Drena De Niro, 51, said he had been sold pills laced with fentanyl, the highly addictive opioid that is fuelling the drug overdose problem in the United States.
Of the 110,000 overdose deaths in the country last year, about 75,000 were attributed to synthetic opioids, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Sheila Scott, a Briton