LYNNWOOD — The cherry-flavored methadone may have tasted like juice to the 17-month-old toddler.
Alison Reed couldn’t have known the syrupy liquid her grandmother drank to kick her heroin addiction was poison.
The toddler died in May from acute methadone intoxication. Detectives believe Alison climbed out of her playpen, found the bottle in her grandmother’s purse and overdosed.
Prosecutors earlier this week charged Robin Gail Reed, 54, with second-degree manslaughter. Reed is accused of criminal negligence in connection with Alison’s death.
Prosecutors allege Reed failed to keep the methadone out of reach of the girl, even after signing a contract with a treatment clinic promising to follow rigid safety procedures, including storing the drug in a locked box.
Detectives have been investigating the case since May and were awaiting toxicology tests before forwarding their investigation to the prosecutor’s office, Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said. The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded in September that Alison died of a methadone overdose, according to the court records.
Reed, of Lynnwood, remains free and has been cooperating with investigators. She is expected to be arraigned Nov. 24 in Snohomish County Superior Court.
Alison stayed with her a couple of nights a week while the girl’s mother worked, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Tammy Bayard wrote in charging documents.
Reed told investigators Alison was an active child and had learned to climb out of her playpen.
Reed called emergency dispatchers May 17 after she found Alison unresponsive and lying on her stomach on the floor outside her playpen, Bayard wrote. Reed later told investigators she believed that sometime during the night, Alison crawled out of the playpen and found the methadone in her purse on the kitchen table.
Reed told detectives she is a recovering heroin addict and takes daily doses of methadone prescribed by a treatment clinic. Reed said she signed a contract, promising to follow rules in order to be allowed to ingest the drug, without direct supervision, outside the clinic.
Reed explained that because the clinic is closed on Sundays she is given a dose on Saturdays to bring home with her and take the next day. The clinic gave her a lock-box to store the methadone in overnight. She also agreed to consume the entire dose and not save any for later use.
Reed allegedly told detectives the methadone Alison drank was from a portion that she had saved from the previous Sunday, Bayard wrote. She also reported that the lock-box was in her car, detectives reported.
“Reed said the reason the drug was supposed to be kept in a locked box was to prevent something like this from happening,” Bayard wrote.
For more than 30 years methadone has been used to treat addictions to opiates, primarily heroin. Clinics generally require clients to consume their daily methadone in the presence of medical staff at the facilities. Methadone has a high street value and is addictive.
However, clinics in Washington are closed on Sundays and federal regulations allow the clinics to provide take home doses to clients in good standing, said David Newman, the clinic director for CRC Health in Lynnwood. Newman’s clinic didn’t provide the methadone that resulted in the girl’s death, he said.
As standard practice in methadone clinics, clients are provided education about safely securing the medication in lock boxes, he said.
“They are educated about the need for safety for their family members and others,” Newman said.
Children are frequent victims of poisonings, many involving medications or cleaning products, said Dr. Tony Woodward, division chief of emergency medicine at Seattle Children’s hospital.
Methadone is a potent medication and a small amount could have devastating effects on a toddler, he said. As with heroin, a methadone overdose could cause a person to stop breathing, Woodward said.
The doctor has seen a couple of cases where children have accidentally ingested methadone, Woodward said. One child died after given methadone that was mistaken for something else, he said.
“The most important thing is to make sure these medications are in a locked cupboard or in childproof containers,” he said. “A child will drink anything that looks like juice, or if a pill looks like a M&M, they’ll eat it. They have no idea of the consequences.”
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
Poison control
If you think your child got into a poison, call the Poison Center at 800-222-1222. Assistance is available 24-hours a day.
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