Another Heroin Overdose Prompts Statewide Warning

Health officials have issued a statewide warning for a lethal supply of heroin that has caused close to a dozen overdoses in the New London area, one of which resulted in a death.

The state Department of Public Health and the Connecticut Poison Control Center issued the warning to hospitals, outpatient clinics and drug and alcohol counseling and treatment facilities throughout the state about the deadly heroin, reports The Day.

According to authorities, the heroin is brown in color and is extremely potent. Most of the victims have been treated at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London, though the person who died from the drug did not make it to the hospital.

The statewide alert asks facilities to warn their patients about the heroin.

“Most of the users were in their 20s and 30s,” Dr. Oliver Mayorga, the hospital’s chief of emergency medical services, told The Day during a press conference Friday. Victims of the drug came from New London, Waterford, Stonington and other area communities. “They were from all walks of life.”

In fact, L+M has experienced an increase in heroin overdoses over the last two years, from 74 in 2014 to 93 in the first 11 months of 2015, reports The Day. Norwich’s William W. Backus Hospital also has seen an increase in overdoses.

“We would certainly welcome additional community resources,” said Mayorga, adding that hospital staff provides overdose patients and/or their families with information about substance abuse treatment facilities and programs.

Click here to read the full story on The Day website.