The Drug Enforcement Agency is working with Chicago police to trace the origin of the tainted heroin.
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Chicago police and federal agents have launched an investigation into the cause of a spike in heroin overdoses this week on the city’s West Side.
“We don’t know if it’s the beginning, middle or end of the surge”, Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford told the Tribune.
The Chicago Tribune reported a few patients turned up at Mount Sinai Hospital with needles still stuck in their arms.
More than 20 people have overdosed from risky batches of narcotics – possibly heroin laced with the painkiller fentanyl – on the West Side since Wednesday night, officials said Thursday.
Extra Narcan, a drug typically used to reverse heroin overdoses, has been given to paramedics and other fire department personnel, for possible victims. The Chicago Police Department, the DEA and HIDTA are investigating and trying to identify the source of the drug.
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The standard single dose treatment of Narcan is not having effect on the patients. “There’s no normal, but when we have one after another like that, it alarms us”, said Velez.
