One dead, two hospitalized, after fentanyl overdose in Fresno

FRESNO, Calif. – A Fresno man is dead, and two other men have been hospitalized, after police said they overdosed on fentanyl last Monday. The opioid is often found laced in heroin and cocaine.

It’s the first fentanyl related death in Fresno County this year. Just this past weekend, there was a mass overdose of fentanyl in Chico, where one person died and 12 were hospitalized.

Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said they are trying to figure out if the two cases are related.

“Many times we find out when there is a series that it could be related to a batch or whatever. We don’t know that yet,” said Mims.

Fresno Police Deputy Chief Pat Farmer said the Fresno victims through the drug they were consuming, was something else.

He said, “(They) bought what they thought was powder cocaine. They brought it back to the apartment, they got a razor blade, they cut it up into three lines, they ingested that cocaine.”

But UCSF Doctor Patil Armenian explained, “There was actually no cocaine detected. And so, we believe that the ‘quote on quote’ cocaine that was snorted, was in actuality fentanyl.”

Law enforcement and medical leaders in Fresno gathered on Monday for a press conference, to bring light to the fentanyl epidemic.

Mim stated, “It started several years ago on the East Coast, and as we predicted, it worked it’s way across the nation.”

Investigators are trying to figure out where the fentanyl that killed the Fresno man came from. Law enforcement said they carry around Naloxone, or Narcan, which can help reverse an opioid overdose. But, they said fentanyl is so powerful, some people need multiple doses to start breathing again. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.