Man OD's on Heroin Twice in 13 Days: Police

Naloxone, also known as Narcan, is a lifesaving drug that quickly reverses the symptoms of an opioid overdose.

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If you’re looking for anecdotal evidence that heroin use is on the rise in Oakland County, look no further than the county sheriff’s office’s activity log over the last couple of weeks.

About 4:50 pm. Saturday, deputies from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office responded to an address in the 200 block of High Street in Pontiac after receiving a call about a 28-year-old man who was found unconscious on the bathroom floor of his home from an apparent heroin overdose.

Deputies had been to the same address 13 days before and the same man OD’d on heroin, according to Oakland sheriff’s office reports.

In the most recent case, deputies revived the man by administering a dose of Narcan, or naloxone which Oakland County deputies routinely carry to reverse the side effects of opioids like heroin, especially in overdose cases. The man was rushed to McLaren Hospital – Oakland by STAR EMS ambulance.

In the first case on Oct. 11, Narcan wasn’t administered. The sheriff’s office contacted the man’s parole officer, and after he was medically cleared at McLaren Hospital, he was transported to the Oakland County Jail.

It’s unclear how long the man had been out of jail.

Related

• Oakland County Narcotics Team Makes Big Heroin Bust
• Michigan Part of Major Heroin, Opioid Pipeline
• Large-Scale Heroin Raid Taking Place Along Woodward Corridor
• Feds Charge 4 in ‘Killer’ Heroin Linked to 60 Deaths
• Alleged Heroin Gang Hid Behind Rapper Names: Indictment
• Heroin Growing Problem in Affluent Suburbs, Across Michigan
• 3 Overdoses in 7 hours Keep Detectives Racing

Michigan’s Department of Community Health has said the increased use of heroin not only caused heroin overdose deaths in the state to increase to 728 in 2013 from 2010-2012, up from 271 during the four-year period of 1999-2002, but also causes related health problems.

In Oakland County, officials have said heroin use has increased 300 percent in recent years.