Inside: Third arrest reported in rash of drug overdoses in New Haven.
Man suspected of distributing synthetic marijuana that caused ODs
NEW HAVEN — A third man, believed to be a distributor of the batch of K2 that led to more than 100 overdoses since Tuesday night, has been arrested on a federal warrant, New Haven Police Chief Anthony Campbell said Friday.
Campbell declined to identify the man, who is being held on federal drug charges, at a City Hall new conference Friday afternoon. But he did identify two city residents previously arrested in connection with the overdoses
as Felix Ayala Melendez, 37, and John Parker, 53.
Campbell said Melendez, whom police had arrested in February on drug charges, has been charged with possession of a controlled substance. Parker is facing state drug charges as well as a federal narcotics charge.
Campbell said he is cautiously optimistic that city first responders now had seen the worst. Between 12:01 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Friday, he said there were no drug overdose calls made that required a response to the Green.
New Haven police Lt. Karl Jacobson, who heads the department’s intelligence and narcotics division, said city officials determined that 47 individuals were treated at least once for overdose. Some individuals were treated multiple times for overdosing, resulting in roughly 120 separate ambulance calls.
“We are a city that takes care of people who can’t take care of themselves,” Jacobson said.
Jacobson and Assistant Police Chief Herb Johnson acknowledged that trying to stop drug dealing on the Greenpresents a difficult set of challenges. Without restricting the public’s movement through the Green and citing people for minor infractions, Johnson said officers treat drug dealing there the way they would in any other part of the city.
“We investigate drug dealing all over the city,” he said. “When we get reports of it on the Green, we check it out.”
Campbell said the investigation into the overdoses is ongoing.
“We are continuing the investigation to see how high up it goes,” he said when asked whether any arrests of suppliers would be forthcoming. “And part of the ongoing investigation is to see whether a higher level of charges in appropriate (for those already arrested).”
The overdoses have drawn international attention, as city, state and federal officials and emergency crews grapple with ways to end the immediate health crisis, as well as address the social, economic and other issues that are part of a national drug addiction problem.
With visitors coming to the city for the Connecticut Open women’s tennis tournament over the next week, Mayor Toni Harp sought to assure visitors that they will be safe here.
“The city’s image has already taken a hit from this,” Harp said. “The sad thing is that the police department has done a phenomenal job reducing the crime rate, which is something that gets lost in this.”
In a morning news conference outside City Hall across from the Green, Campbell provided an update, noting the department has “a history” with the third man who is charged in connection with the overdoses.
“We’ve been trying to get the word out to make sure people understand please not to use this K2, it is clearly contaminated,” he said. “One of the chemicals is Fubinaca, which is really supposed to be, for whatever reason, knocking people down and taking them out.”
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, AB-FUBINACA was introduced as a Pfizer patent in 2009, but there are no medical or commercial uses for the drug.
Campbell said three people were are in critical condition as of 10 a.m. Friday. The total of more than 100 overdoses in- cludes some people who received treatment, then returned to the Green — still wearing their hospital bracelets, Campbell said — and overdosed again, some up to four or five times.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., also spoke earlier in the day about what he sees as a need to address the crisis through legislation. “We need new tactics to address synthetics,” he said.
Blumenthal said “amateur chemists” who are “primarily from China and Mexico” are creating synthetic marijuana and synthetic heroin.
“At the end of the day, we need more resources, meaning money,” he said. Blumenthal recommended the federal administration “put aside the trade wars” to start a “multinational crackdown” on synthetic drugs.
Later Friday, U.S. Sen. Christopher Murphy, D-Conn., and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont toured Fair Haven Community Health Care at 374 Grand Ave. and talked with staff members about addiction.
Speaking to the opioid crisis, Lamont said, “What I want to learn today from you is how the governor, how the state, can be a greater, better partner for you. How perhaps if we raise the urgency of what this epidemic is, that has killed more people than Vietnam, killed more people than AIDS at its peak. It’s an epidemic that is hitting us suddenly in sporadically different places.
“I think it’s a place where you want your governor to take a lead, and that’s what I will do,” Lamont said. “First and foremost, not just shining a light on the problem, but finding ways to coordinate the best comprehensive response. Maybe that means a Cabinet-level person, a czar, somebody who helps bring together mental health, addiction services, public health, (Department of Social Services) ... work with the clinics, look at best practices around the state, work with police and fire and make sure that we have those folks at the table.”
Murphy said the federal government must not cut back money for substance abuse prevention and treatment, noting that Congress “in a heartbeat” approved $4 billion in 2014 to fight Ebola, “when there were less than six people in the United States that had Ebola. ... We fought and clawed over three years to finally get the Congress to put up $6 billion in the last budget for an epidemic that is killing a thousand people every year in a state that represents one percent of the nation’s population. So I am so fearful that this president is taking us backward, just after we made progress moving forward,” by cutting Medicaid and by “promoting junk insurance plans” that don’t cover mental health and addiction treatment.
Dr. Douglas Olson, vice president for clinical affairs, mentioned barriers to bringing treatment to those suffering from addiction, such as prescribers needing special registration with the state.