Authorities in Indiana and Ohio are on alert after a supercharged form of heroin is suspected of causing 50 overdoses since Tuesday and more than 75 total since Friday, USA Today reports. Cincinnati saw a spike in overdoses over the weekend when the Hamilton County Heroin Coalition reported more than 30 overdoses Monday. Since Tuesday, 33 more people have overdosed in Cincinnati, including one fatal overdose.
In Jennings County, In., officials responded to 14 overdoses late Tuesday and early Wednesday, according to the Jennings County Sheriff’s Department and Seymour Police. One was fatal. Authorities are investigating to see if a specific source of heroin was tainted or cut with something that caused the users to overdose. Law enforcement officials suspect the heroin was laced with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid painkiller used to treat patients recovering after surgery. Fentanyl is 50 times more powerful than heroin. A similar cluster of overdoses occurred Aug. 15 in Huntington, W. Va., where 27 people overdosed within five hours, one fatally.
