A southwest OH coroner is hoping a sample of a powerful sedative will help local officials find out what’s behind a recent spike in heroin overdoses.
Advertisement
One person died in Mount Sterling, Kentucky, following a series of 12 heroin overdoses within hours of each other on Wednesday.
But emergency rooms estimate the toll is higher, with 174 suspected opioid cases over the course of a week.
Police in the OH city are asking for the public’s help in identifying the source of the heroin batch that triggered the overdoses.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia announced Friday that 22-year-old Bruce Lamar Griggs from Akron, Ohio, was charged in federal court with drug distribution in connection to the August 15 spate of overdoses in Huntington. Most of the victims were in their 30s or 40s, said Jeff Jackson, battalion chief for the Montgomery County Fire Department. He made an initial appearance Thursday before a US magistrate judge in the Northern District of Ohio.
They suspect a drug used to sedate elephants that is 100 times as potent as the fentanyl (FEHN’-tuh-nihl) could be behind the surge in overdoses.
Advertisement
In Hamilton County, officials say they will seek funding for treatment and expanded response teams. “They’re not going to school, they’re trying to take care of their parents and their parents are using”, Weir said.
