WARNING: Cape towns seeing spike in deadly drug overdoses…
Top photo: Overdose scene Wednesday night in Hyannis… female patient survived…
FALMOUTH – The heroin/fentanyl epidemic rages onward in just about every town across Cape Cod…
“There has been a significant increase in the number of overdoses in Falmouth in recent weeks,” according to Lieutenant Douglas DeCosta of the Falmouth Police Department.
In fact, the FPD reports they responded to 15 overdose calls in the past 7 days alone.
Thirteen lives were saved through the use of Narcan, but two individuals did not survive. Again, that’s two fatal drug overdoses in just seven days!
As HN previously reported on deadly fentanyl, the FPD also believes it’s the lethal mixture of heroin with fentanyl which is responsible for this recent spike in overdoses in their community.
According to Narconon.org, “Fentanyl is a synthetic opiate painkiller that is much stronger than morphine or heroin – in fact, it is 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine.
HN has observed a recent spike in overdoses in the Town of Barnstable, with over 34 documented emergency responses, and 6 fatalities in just the first 3 months of 2017 alone (this according to Barnstable Police records).
Individuals, especially those relapsing or using for the first time, are very likely to die from these current mixtures of heroin and fentanyl.
In fact, some first responders believe users are often duped into believing they are buying heroin, only to quickly learn they have just injected mostly fentanyl, which is much stronger and faster acting. Fighting for their lives, users are finding they have even less time than before… and that their contingency plans to use Narcan are failing. Police and firefighters are being called to these scenes oftentimes because personal stores of Narcan did not do the job… and the users simply ran out.
HN responded to an overdose in Hyannis on Wednesday evening (see top image) where it was believed the victim already depleted her supply of Narcan. First responders made the decision to take her into protective custody and transported her to CCH.
In today’s Falmouth Police press statement, Lieutenant Douglas went on to write, “[Heroin mixed with fentanyl] significantly increases the risk of death to those already in peril with the use of opiates. If you know someone suffering with opiate addiction please implore them to seek immediate treatment. We will continue our efforts to reduce the supply of opiates in Falmouth and assist people suffering from addiction into treatment.”
HN NOTE: Same goes for Hyannis and beyond, if you know someone suffering with opiate addiction, now is the time to step up intervention efforts. As Lieutenant Douglas said, please implore these individuals to seek immediate treatment. The poison on our streets right now is some of the worst we’ve ever seen. Injecting this deadly mixture will unfortunately be an instant death sentence for some users.
Furthermore, HN commends the Falmouth Police Department for voluntarily coming forward with this crucial information. Which very well may be just the right information to keep someone safe tonight. Thank you FPD!
