07 Feb City of Frederick sees cluster of fatal overdoses in January | Crime & justice
There were four cases of fatal drug overdoses in the city of Frederick in the last week of January, prompting the Frederick County Health Department to remind people about the presence of fentanyl in heroin and other drugs.
As of Feb. 3, there have been five fatalities due to overdoses in the city, and seven non-fatal overdoses. The numbers are almost identical to those in January 2018, which saw five fatal overdoses and 10 non-fatal ones, said Lt. Kirk Henneberry, commander of the Frederick Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division, which includes the agency’s narcotics detectives.
“We also had five fatal opioid overdoses in January of 2018, so year-to-date, January-to-January, it doesn’t look too different, but because they’re clustered there right at the end of the month instead of being more spread out like they usually are, we took notice,” Henneberry said.
Henneberry was quick to point out that any numbers the department had from last month were subject to change based on autopsy results and toxicology tests done by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. That said, detectives in the department’s Drug Enforcement Unit, as a rule, respond to every fatal overdose reported in the city to conduct an investigation and speak with any witnesses.
“Based on what we’ve seen at the scenes, we’re confident enough to call them fatal opioid-related overdoses at this point,” Henneberry said, referring to the five cases detectives investigated during the one-week period.
Toxicology reports on the overdoses are not completed yet, but the presence of fentanyl increases the likelihood of an overdose, said Andrea Walker, director of the health department’s Behavioral Health Services Division, in an email.
“Based on the information we have at this time, we cannot say that these overdoses are related, or if the substances were from the same source,” Walker said in the email. “It is a mistake to assume that this is due to a ‘bad batch.’”
In 2018, 87 percent of the 88 fatal overdoses in the county were attributed to opioids. Of those, approximately 61 involved fentanyl or a fentanyl analogue, Walker said in her email.
The health department recommends those who do use an opioid, such as heroin, test for the presence of fentanyl through fentanyl test strips. Those, along with naloxone/Narcan, can be obtained from the health department’s Syringe Services Program, Fridays from 9 a.m. to noon at the health department or by calling 301-600-1755.
The strips are no longer considered drug paraphernalia as of June 2018, Walker said.
Follow Heather Mongilio on Twitter: @HMongilio.
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