PARK CITY — Park City police with drug-sniffing K-9s went locker to locker on Wednesday looking for any possible illegal drugs in three schools.

They were specifically looking for the synthetic opioid U-47700, known by its more common street name of "pink."

The searches come a day after the Park City School District announced that two 13-year-old boys — best friends — died unexpectedly within 48 hours of each other earlier this week. Investigators are waiting for toxicology tests to determine how they died.

But Ember Conley, superintendent of Park City School District, said Wednesday that based on social media chatter, investigators are looking at the possibility that Grant Seaver and Ryan Ainsworth had been using an "experimental substance" that they hadn't used before.

That substance may be the drug "pink" or "pinky."

It was also announced Wednesday that a 15-year-old Park City High student who was an "inner circle" friend of Ryan and Grant attempted suicide Wednesday. The teen was reported to be stable Wednesday afternoon, said Park City Police Capt. Phil Kirk. He declined to say whether the student is a girl or boy.

The deaths of the two best friends aren't being called suicides, but that is being investigated as one of several possible explanations, Kirk said.

Since the deaths and the subsequent announcements that police and school officials are extremely worried about the U-47700 drug, the school district has been in self-described crisis mode.

"This has been one of the scariest things I've dealt with," Conley said Wednesday.

Crisis counselors were back at the schools Wednesday. A letter from the district was also sent to all parents urging them "to pay very close attention to your child’s state of mind. If you feel that they are at risk for any dangerous behaviors, please keep them in your sight at all times" and get help.

She said the district is relying heavily on other students to provide them with information, and administrators are also taking a proactive approach to try and prevent any additional incidents.

Tuesday afternoon, after students had left Treasure Mountain Junior High School, where Ryan and Grant were students, police brought in K-9s to sniff 15 to 20 lockers. Conley said the lockers were targeted as being used by people with ties to the two boys. In one locker, a powdery substance in a "white baggy" was found. The substance was tested and contained traces of methamphetamine, she said. That student now faces disciplinary action.

On Wednesday, the drug dogs returned to Treasure Mountain for a sweep of every locker. K-9s were also used to check every car in the parking lot at Park City High School and the Learning Center, an alternative high school. Kirk said the searches were in part precautionary but admitted they were also done as a deterrent to others thinking about bringing drugs to school.

The Utah office of the Drug Enforcement Administration also confirmed Wednesday that it is involved with the Park City investigation.

But Brian Besser, the DEA regional agent-in-charge, said he is hesitant to use the word "pink" or "pinky." Instead, he refers to the drug by its DEA name, U-47700.

"What bothers me is we've had street cocaine, street heroin, street methamphetamine. There's a million things that can be called 'pink' because they're just street names. So the fact these kids are calling it pink, from a DEA standpoint that doesn't really mean a whole lot to us until we get toxicology tests back," he said.

Already this year, Besser confirmed there have been two deaths in Utah in which U-47700 was confirmed to be involved. A 41-year-old Salt Lake County woman and a 25-year-old Iron County man both fatally overdosed on the same day — March 18. Autopsy results showed several drugs in both of their systems, including U-47700. Whether that drug was directly responsible for their deaths or a combination of other drugs was not known, he said.

Besser also couldn't say if those two deaths are related, whether their drugs came from the same illegal pill manufacturer, or if the timing was a complete coincidence.

However, he said that should not lessen the extreme danger of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids such as U-47700.

"We're dealing in substances here that are measured in micrograms. A microgram is one-millionth of a gram. So, a fentanyl overdose for a nonopioid user is 2 milligrams. You're talking about basically a couple of grains of table salt. So fentanyl is literally 100 times more potent than morphine. It's 40 to 50 times more potent that street level heroin," Besser said.

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Deaths of 2 Park City boys spark investigation, warning from school district

Two 13-year-old Park City boys, best friends who both attended Treasure Mountain Junior High School, have died unexpectedly within 48 hours of each other.

In July, the national DEA headquarters issued a warning that there had been 17 overdoses and several deaths from the new U-47700 substance nationwide.

That's why Besser has warned police and paramedics statewide to be extremely cautious when they come across suspected U-47700 and fentanyl. In fact, he says police and fire crews shouldn't even touch it with their bare hands.

"If you come across anything that looks like a synthetic opioid, or you think could be suspected fentanyl, do not field test it. Do not try to sample it. Bag it, double bag it, triple bag it, do whatever you have to do. Do not breathe it. Do not do anything you don't have to do. Just get it packaged up the best you can and clearly label it that it is suspected fentanyl or fentanyl analog, which is what U-47700 is," he said.

When asked what the appeal is of such a dangerous substance, Besser said fentanyl has been around for decades and has a legitimate use for managing pain. But drug dealers can currently make a huge profit off it. A kilo of fentanyl can be purchased from China for $3,500 to $4,000, according to Besser. The fentanyl is then shipped to an illegal pill lab where one kilo of the substance can make between 700,000 to 1 million pills that sell for $10 to $30 each on the street.

In June, Besser said his agents busted a fentanyl pill making operation in Sandy that was producing 7,000 pills per hour.

Buyers have no idea what they're getting or what other drugs may have been mixed with it or in what quantities, he said. In Utah, where OxyContin abuse is high, buying prescription medication on the street is now even more dangerous than ever.

"Don't buy what you think are prescription drugs on the street. You can't do it. It's abuse Russian roulette," Besser said. "You can't tell what it is. You're just going on whatever person's word it is. The problem is they're not from a pharmaceutical company. They're from these two clowns sitting around a hotel room.

"Think of the heroin deaths alone we're seeing in Utah, and we have fentanyl, which is 50 times more powerful than heroin. So you're talking about something that's just catastrophic," he continued.

If U-47700 has really made its way into the schools of Park City, Besser said it's important for his office to find out where it came from, who is making the material and how are they selling it to children.

According to the Utah Department of Health, the number of fentanyl prescriptions filled has increased every year since 2009. Over the last five years, there have been an average of 23 fentanyl-related deaths in Utah per year, according to department spokeswoman Jenny Johnson. Fentanyl had the second highest risk of death per 100,000 prescriptions, increasing 29 percent from 2009-14.

As of Sept. 7, U-47700 was proposed by the DEA to be placed on the federal register of Schedule I drugs, meaning they have no known beneficial purpose. That goes into effect Oct. 7.

A memorial to celebrate Grant Seaver is scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m. at the pavilion at City Park. Grant was an avid skier who competed with Team Park City United. He competed at the USASA National Championships halfpipe event in the 10-12 age group two seasons ago. He then skied with the development team last season, according to team officials, so he could "support and enjoy" some of his friends that were not yet ready to move up.

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