Not Your Parent’s Heroin

It’s been a long day for officer Chris Green of the East Liverpool Police. He is wrapping up and looking forward to some well-earned time off. He walks into the police station’s break room and one of his co-workers points out dust on his shirt. He wipes it away with his hand a few minutes later he falls unconscious….

Earlier that day, Chris had arrested two suspects who tried to destroy the drugs they were transporting by pouring it on the floor. Though he used proper protective gloves and mask, Chris still got some of the powder on him. This new compound, mixed into heroin can easily be absorbed into the skin.

“I started talking weird. I slowly felt my body shutting down. I could hear others talking, but I couldn’t respond. I was in total shock.” —Officer Chris Green

This is far from an isolated incident. The drug fentanyl is being mixed into heroin and causing more deaths every day. The drug is over 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine. Ohio, a state greatly affected by the opiate epidemic has been hit hard by fentanyl.

At the beginning of September, the Morbidity and Mortality weekly report found that almost all drug overdose deaths in the state where caused by fentanyl. The study was led by researchers at Wright State University’s Boonshoft School of Medicine.

Heroin is not the only threat in this terrible epidemic anymore. Both carfentanyl and fentanyl are causing many deaths. Lead Researcher, Raminta Daniulaityte had this to say:

“The findings of our study highlight the urgent need to include testing 
for fentanyl and fentanyl analogs as a part of standard toxicology panels
for biological specimens used by substance abuse treatment centers,
criminal justice institutions, and medical providers.”

Drug addiction treatment is needed immediately for those who are using drugs since these new deadly substances could be the last one your loved one uses.

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