Cases of heroin overdoses spike
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on April 10, 2016 1:45 AM
Wayne County Sheriff's Office is investigating the cause of a large spike of heroin overdoses that have been treated at Wayne Memorial Hospital in a seven-day period.
"It's very dangerous right now," Maj. Tom Effler with the Wayne County Sheriff's Office said. "A lot of people are overdosing on it."
Effler said the sheriff's office is not sure whether the cause for the spike in cases is due to an extra potent batch or if the drug is being laced with other, more powerful drugs.
"Our drug guys are actively investigating this right now," Effler said. "We're not absolutely positive if it's laced with something that's making it extra deadly or if it's just strong. Right now, we're leaning towards extra strong. Until we can get the heroin these people are actually using and test it, we have no way of knowing what the cause is."
The hospital reported 12 cases of heroin overdoses between April 1 and April 7, marking a significant increase in the number of cases.
There were 10 people treated for heroin overdoses on 12 separate occasions.
One person was admitted to the hospital twice -- first on April 2, then again less than 24 hours later on April 3 -- both times for a heroin overdose.
Another person was treated for a heroine overdose on April 3 and a second time on April 7.
None of the cases were fatal.
Georgia Dees, Director of Public Relations for Wayne Memorial Hospital, said the hospital did receive a notice recently to begin tracking the number of heroin overdoses the hospital is treating.
"We don't usually keep up with these numbers, but we're keeping up with them now because an alert was sent out to hospitals saying there is a problem (with heroin overdoses)," Mrs. Dees said.
Effler said more people are currently using heroin than in the past, but the cause of the spike in overdoses is still working to be determined.
Effler said people will begin the road towards heroin -- a road that can lead towards jail, rehab or death -- by using opioid prescription medications.
But, heroin is cheaper than prescription medication, causing many people to seek the cheaper alternative when opioids become too expensive, Effler said.