At least a few of the overdoses may have been caused by heroin laced with the painkiller fentanyl.
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Police are investigating if the apparent drug overdose death of a man on the 3300 block of West Ohio Street on October 2, 2015, is related to possibly tainted batches of heroin.
An alert distributed by the Chicago Department of Public Health and obtained by the Tribune said that more than 20 people had overdosed in 24 hours on what may have been heroin laced with fentanyl purchased at two locations on the West Side. One individual died from the overdose.
Fire Department Cmdr. Frank Velez said paramedics and other first responders have been equipped with extra doses of Narcan, a nasal spray form of the heroin antidote naloxone, which can save the life of someone who has overdosed if administered in time.
The standard single dose treatment of Narcan is not having effect on the patients.
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“Typically if it’s given by the paramedics, we may not need to give it again in the emergency department”. The DEA issued a nationwide warning about fentanyl-laced heroin in March. A few believe it’s being manufactured at drug labs shipped up from Mexico. “We suspect what is happening is the same thing that happened in 2006”, Mount Sinai emergency room director Diane Hincks tells the Chicago Tribune.
