http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/elephant-tranquilizer-laced-heroin-triggers-overdoses-ohio-article-1.2764783

 

Heroin laced with elephant tranquilizer has sieged the streets of Cincinnati.

 

More than 50 people overdosed on carfentanil-laced heroin across the Buckeye State city between Tuesday morning and Wednesday night, according to cops.

 

The troubled city has reported elephant tranquilizer-laced heroin overdoses in the past — but this week's shocking number surprised even veteran first responders.

 

"I've got to say to whoever pushed this out on the street, this was the wrong thing to do," Tom Synan, Chief of the Hamilton County Heroin Coalition, told WCPO. "You now have the full and undivided attention of the Hamilton County Coalition Task Force…and I can tell you we'll all be working with the Cincinnati Police Department to see who pushed this out on the street."

 

The spiked heroin has proven resistant to tested revival medicines such as Narcan, which lead to one death in this week's wave of overdoses.

 

Synan said local police believe more than one dealer is involved in nefariously dealing the highly lethal heroin batch — with at least one handing it out for free.

 

Carfentanil is analog to fentanyl, the synthetic opioid legendary pop star Prince overdosed on in April. But, according to Cincinnati police, the elephant tranquilizer is more than 100 times stronger than its cousin drug — and more than 10,000 times stronger than morphine.

 

"Our community has been devastated by heroin," Hamilton County Coronor Dr. Lakshmi K. Sammarco said in a statement. "Take this as a dire warning to all, if you choose to purchase and use any forms of heroin…you may be literally gambling with your life."

 

 

Heroin OD spike from weekend continues

 

A man was found dead at the Avondale Rally's location Wednesday afternoon as the result of a suspected overdose, police said.

 

This latest overdose continues the spike of OD reports Cincinnati police and fire departments have been responding to since this weekend, and marks the 12th reported overdose of the day, according to Lt. Steve Saunders.

 

That brings the total count of heroin overdoses since Tuesday to 33.

 

Saunders said several of the overdoses were grouped on individual streets throughout the west side. He said none of Tuesday's overdoses were fatal.

 

Saunders later said police conducted 21 overdose runs on Tuesday alone. Officials are investigating to see if a specific source of heroin is tainted or cut with something causing drug users to overdose.

 

"This has been generalized on the west side of the Cincinnati but it does not mean this compound it is not in other areas," police officials stated in a release Tuesday.

 

Police are warning anyone who may be using intravenous drugs to be aware of this increased danger.

 

"The Cincinnati Police Department is working to identify commonalities in the overdoses in an effort to determine the source of this dangerous drug currently being circulated," officials said.

 

Police are asking anyone with information that could be helpful to the investigation to call Crime Stoppers at 352-3040.

 

The Hamilton County Heroin Coalition on Monday reported a spike over the weekend, beginning Friday, with more than 30 overdoses at area hospitals and warned both officials and the public.

 

The coalition alerted additional police, emergency responders, hospitals, treatment centers and others so that they could get additional naloxone and be prepared for overdoses.

 

Newtown Police Chief Tom Synan, who heads the coalition's law enforcement task force, said he received word of 19 overdoses in the area on Tuesday.

 

Synan said the spike is similar to that experienced several weeks ago in Akron and Columbus, when carfentanil was identified in the heroin stream on the streets there. While the Hamilton County law enforcement also found evidence of carfentanil in heroin here, Synan said it's too soon to know what was causing the overdoses on Tuesday.

 

"We have no idea, really, what's causing this at this point, if it's carfentanil, fentanyl or something else in this particular batch of heroin," he said.

 

Generally, the Hamilton County Heroin Coalition has charted about 20 to 25 overdoses, with one or two deaths, in a week. The most Synan had seen was about six or seven deaths with 16 overdoses one week. He added, "we've gone as long as three weeks with none."

 

Synan said the coalition's ability to get the information straight to the law enforcement and medical providers in the area is key to helping curb the overdoses.

 

"This is the pure example of why we put this coalition together: To save lives and make a difference."

Darwinism! Please let it play its self out! :dancingpa

Insanity, all the way around.

 

But, it brings up a question (at least in my mind)...why would any dealer/supplier push this? Yes, you want your customer base to be/become addicted...but, they can't buy any more when they're dead. And it's not like it's cigarettes, where usage may lead to death down the road. This could be a one-time thing. It just doesn't make any sense to possibly kill off your customer base.

Elephant tranquilizers....It would be somewhat funny if it weren't so damned sad.

Darwinism! Please let it play its self out! :dancingpa

 

Complete narrow minded misunderstanding of what's going on with this epidemic....

 

Glad to see that people still have a deep respect for human life....solid

Complete narrow minded misunderstanding of what's going on with this epidemic....

 

Glad to see that people still have a deep respect for human life....solid

 

You can't save people who don't want to be saved.

I'm trying to wrap my head around the thought of lacing heroin with elephant tranquilizer. Where in the hell do you get elephant tranquilizer from and why use it to cut your heroin? I'm lost with this one.

Insanity, all the way around.

 

But, it brings up a question (at least in my mind)...why would any dealer/supplier push this? Yes, you want your customer base to be/become addicted...but, they can't buy any more when they're dead. And it's not like it's cigarettes, where usage may lead to death down the road. This could be a one-time thing. It just doesn't make any sense to possibly kill off your customer base.

 

This is what I'd like to know more about. Why would you want to lace your herion with this stuff if you're a dealer? Is it cheaper than the natural herion so your stuff will go further if you have some of it to cut the product? Does the right amount of it in a batch of herion somehow enhance or amplify the high so that they ones who survive are really into it?

You can't save people who don't want to be saved.

 

I agree with you 100%...I'm just not in agreement that they don't want to be saved.

 

I think it's a much greater issue than desire to not want to use.

 

I also can respect that it is difficult for people to comprehend if they haven't seen it, lived it or been there, so I understand that.

You can't save people who don't want to be saved.

 

Agreed.

 

I have no sympathy for the people who do this.

 

You know the potential consequences before you decide to shoot up. You still do it, I'm going to work under the assumption that you're accepting that risk and the potential tragic outcome that comes with it.

This is what I'd like to know more about. Why would you want to lace your herion with this stuff if you're a dealer? Is it cheaper than the natural herion so your stuff will go further if you have some of it to cut the product? Does the right amount of it in a batch of herion somehow enhance or amplify the high so that they ones who survive are really into it?

 

Depending on the agent used to cut, yes, it can stretch the product. As important is the "quality" of the high.

 

The addition of a cutting agent in recent years is what has made the boom in this epidemic. Much greater high, much more addictive properties (think x2 chemicals competing for the return high) and less ability to control dose amounts of both drugs.

 

The heroin on the streets now is not your parents' heroin.

I agree with you 100%...I'm just not in agreement that they don't want to be saved.

 

I think it's a much greater issue than desire to not want to use.

 

I also can respect that it is difficult for people to comprehend if they haven't seen it, lived it or been there, so I understand that.

 

I've seen it.

 

There are people that have every opportunity to stop and they don't do it. Those people don't want to be saved.

 

If you're doing heroin with elephant tranquilizers in it, you probably have no intention of giving up drugs. So...

You can't save people who don't want to be saved.

 

Plenty of people who want to be saved but can't do it without a lot of help. I don't have a whole lot experience with drug addicts, but I've seen it with alcoholics. There will never be a day in that person's life, even after he stops drinking, when he won't be an alcoholic. He might not have a drink, he might not even be thinking about having a drink that day, but he's still an alcoholic and that slide can happen at any time.

Agreed.

 

I have no sympathy for the people who do this.

 

You know the potential consequences before you decide to shoot up. You still do it, I'm going to work under the assumption that you're accepting that risk and the potential tragic outcome that comes with it.

 

In a rational world, this position makes sense.

 

Addiction is not a rational world. Most heroin users didn't start there. Many of them started with prescription pain meds, became legitimately addicted and were unable to drag themselves out of it....hence their turn to heroin as a substitute.

 

Most don't start by lining it either....snort, or smoke laced weed is a primary gateway

I've seen it.

 

There are people that have every opportunity to stop and they don't do it. Those people don't want to be saved.

 

If you're doing heroin with elephant tranquilizers in it, you probably have no intention of giving up drugs. So...

 

I sincerely doubt these people knew they were using elephant tranquilizer.