'Mass Overdose' Wednesday In NJ, Officials Issue Warning For Fentanyl-Laced Heroin

CAMDEN, NJ — A "mass overdose" situation was reported Wednesday in Camden, where 14 people experienced an opioid overdose in a matter of hours, according to New Jersey officials. Attorney General Christopher Porrino via Twitter warned of the "mass overdose," saying it was due to lethal fentanyl-laced heroin.

Porrino asked people to "re-tweet" his post to spread the word.

NBC10 reports the overdoses happened between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. There were no fatalities, but that report said the victims were hospitalized.

Fentanyl is a schedule II prescription drug that is up to 50 times deadlier than heroin. The most frequent cause of death in the ongoing opioid epidemic, it is frequently sold as heroin by dealers, and drug users are unaware of the lethal potency of what they are consuming.

Fentanyl is typically used to treat patients who have severe pain or to manage pain after surgery, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which warns that "The high potency of fentanyl greatly increases risk of overdose, especially if a person who uses drugs is unaware that a powder or pill contains fentanyl."

Patch file photo