CINCINNATI — A more potent heroin is not just a West Virginia problem, as Cincinnati has seen a rash of recent overdoses of the drug.
Earlier this month, Huntington saw 28 heroin overdoes in about six hours, two of which turned out to be fatal. Terry DeMio, a reporter with the Cincinnati Enquirer, says a more potent heroin with addictive additives is making the rounds.
“The thought is that this is not straight heroin. We’re seeing fentanyl, carfentanyl, the animal opioid or furanylfentanyl which is another analog for fentanyl,” she told Hoppy Kercheval on MetroNews “Talkline” Monday. “They’re really waiting now to get a sample of car fentyayl (from the blood of deceased victims).
DeMio said evidence of carfentayl in victims has been noticed by addiction specialists, and the opioid is incredibly addictive.
“We started hearing about it in Cincinnati in July, it was found in the stream of street heroin,” DeMio said. “I talked to experts from Columbia University Medical and in Baltimore who said it’s just unfathomably strong.”
Most first responders are carrying the antidote Naloxone by now, DeMio said, which most likely prevented the crisis from becoming worse.
“Had this been a year or several months ago, I’m not sure that people would have fared as well, especially in Cincinnati and northern Kentucky. We have a lot of Narcan out there and we have a lot of law enforcement officers carrying it.”
DeMio, who covers drug addiction for the Enquirer, said the crisis is woese than ever right now, with not enough doctors, medication or on-demand treatment available to deal with it.
“You end up just having that revolving door, just like the jails and prisons and treatment centers that are basically rehabs,” she said of lack of access to long-term care. “They overdose or they get some form of rehabilitation, they’re set out on the streets. The way your brain is affected by heroin use, you’re going to do it again.”
DeMio said about 80 percent of those currently addicted to heroin have said that they started with prescription painkillers.