Things aren’t normally expected to get this out of control.
But sometimes, something comes along and shakes things up.
An “extremely strong batch of heroin” has caused over 70 overdoses in three days in Chicago, and law enforcement agencies are still trying to pinpoint a main cause.
This epidemic, as it were, is suspected to be similar to an epidemic in 2006, caused by heroin laced with fentanyl, a powerful painkiller.
Officials haven’t been able to verify if it’s fentanyl, as they’re waiting on the toxicology report from one of the victims, a 49-year-old man who died of apparent overdose.
This epidemic is so bad that the Chicago Fire Department and the paramedics have begun to carry extra Narcan—a drug that reverses the effects of heroin overdose.
If it is fentanyl, this would be bad news. It’s the norm now for heroin trackers to add fentanyl to increase the potency of a batch, and Chicago law enforcement is used to that. But fentanyl is 100 times more powerful than morphine and 30 to 50 times more powerful than heroin, and overdoses involving it are often lethal.
The presence of this drug has shown itself in overdose epidemics in large cities across the nation, such as New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia.
Interestingly, these overdose epidemics become worse because they make the news. One officer said “The craziest thing back [in 2006] was that when other addicts heard people were overdosing, they ran to find the stuff right away because they wanted the most powerful high. They think other people’s tolerance is low and they can get that high without going over the edge. But they’re wrong.”
The Drug Enforcement Administration released a nationwide alert warning against fentanyl this year.
