Two die in 13 weekend heroin overdoses

DELRAY BEACH — City police responded to 13 heroin overdose calls between Friday and Monday, two of them fatal.

One of the fatalities involved a 35-year-old man whose body was discovered on his bathroom floor with a needle and spoon nearby on Friday, police said on the department’s Facebook page.

In the other case, a woman discovered her friend’s body in his apartment on Saturday night. The woman said her friend, 26, had asked her for heroin on Friday, but she refused.

On Monday, two men were found unconscious in a parking lot on South Congress Avenue.

The city has seen a surge in overdoses in the past few years. In April, police Chief Jeffrey Goldman said heroin has “become an epidemic in Delray Beach.” It launched “Operation Street Sweeper” this year to identify and arrest heroin dealers.

Fentanyl, “up to 50 times stronger than heroin,” is a common cause of heroin overdoses, but it’s to soon to know what triggered these 13, the Facebook post said.

Four of the remaining 11 calls happened on Friday, and two involved the same person — one call on Saturday and one on Sunday.

Over the weekend the overdose victims received the antidote naloxone from police or Delray Beach Fire Rescue and were transported to the hospital. In March, Delray police became the first department in Palm Beach County to carry the antidote.

Detectives asked for the public to call the Delray Beach Tip Line with information about drug use at 561-243-7839.