Elementary student tastes cocaine from vials found on Washington playground, school says

An elementary student tasted cocaine from vials found on a playground in Washington, the school said.

One student recently found two small vials that contained a white powder at Evergreen Heights Elementary in Auburn, Principal Tonni Vu said in a Dec. 8 letter to parents.

Then a student tasted the powder, which the Auburn Police Department later confirmed to be cocaine, the school said.

It’s not clear how the drug ended up on the playground, the school said.

“The families of those impacted were notified and the student is okay,” Vu said.

However, the school is now reminding parents to tell their children to never “eat, drink or inhale something unless it comes from a trusted adult.”

Any concerns can be reported to the Auburn School District’s anonymous SafeSchools Tip Line.

Auburn is about 30 miles south of Seattle.

This story was originally published December 14, 2023 at 11:22 AM with the headline "Elementary student tastes cocaine from vials found on Washington playground, school says."

Helena Wegner

McClatchy DC

Helena Wegner is a McClatchy National Real-Time Reporter covering the state of Washington and the western region. She’s a journalism graduate from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She’s based in Phoenix.