Two people died of suspected heroin overdoses in Derby Wednesday, prompting an alert from the Derby police department.
A man in his 20s died on Hawthorne Avenue Wednesday morning, Derby police Lt. Justin Stanko said, and a second man was found dead in an apartment on Summit Street about 5:20 p.m.
The second victim is also thought to be in his 20s.
Further details about the deaths are not available.
Meanwhile, there have been two suspected heroin overdoses in Shelton in the past 24 hours, Stanko said. Those people survived.
Police want to warn people of a potentially bad batch of heroin making the rounds locally.
“It is too early to say definitively until there is a lab analysis, but it could be a bad batch,” Stanko said.
A “bad batch” refers to heroin more dangerous than usual. It could be that the drug is suddenly more potent than the user expected. That could be because the heroin is actually fentanyl, or mixed with fentanyl. Click here for more on that.
But that’s all to be sorted out later. Derby police just don’t want to find more bodies.
“Right now I just want to get the word out as fast as possible,” Stanko said.
The Derby deaths and Shelton overdoses underline the fact drug overdoses — especially heroin — have become increasingly common in the state.
The New London area has been inundated in recent weeks by overdoses. Click here for a story from the Courant.
In 2012, there were 195 fatal heroin, morphine or codeine overdoses in Connecticut, according to information sent by U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s office.
In 2013, there were 284 deaths.
2014 — 347.
2015 — 415
Why?
“This rise in deaths and the increasing addiction rates for heroin are inextricably connected with the availability of illegal drugs, the lack of adequate resources to address addiction and the over-prescription of pain killers,” according to a prepared statement from the senator’s office.
On Sunday, the state’s Medical Examiner’s Office release stats on drug overdoses going back to 2012. They are alarming.
Have a look:
On Tuesday, White House National Drug Control Policy Director Michael Botticelli hosted a forum with Gov. Dannel Malloy in Hartford on preventing and treating prescription drug abuse and heroin use. Click here for CT‑N coverage.
The forum was meant to highlight state and federal efforts to combat the heroin and prescription pill epidemic.
President Barack Obama’s new budget includes $1.1 billion “to expand access to treatment for prescription drug abuse and heroin use,” according to a press release from Gov. Malloy’s office.
Also, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy released a statement Tuesday urging his fellow federal lawmakers to support his “Mental Health Reform Act,” a bill intended, in part, “to make critical reforms to address a lack of resources” for families dealing with mental illness and substance abuse issues.
Locally, state Rep. Theresa Conroy has been sounding the alarm about opioid abuse almost nonstop. Click here for a discussion she had on the topic on the Valley Indy’s radio show.
Finally, state lawmakers who represent Shelton are hosting a community forum on opioid addiction in March. See the image below for details.
Here’s a link for area Narcotics Anonymous meetings.
Here’s a link for Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
Here’s a link for Al-Anon groups in the state.
The following information was sent by Derby police Wednesday evening.
Editor’s Note: Please don’t post “is there any such thing as a good batch of heroin?” We get it. See our post in the comment section.