Opiate-laced crack cocaine kills 2

NORWALK » Emergency responders rushed around the city Saturday as a lethal opioid-laced crack cocaine circulated, leaving two people dead and sending three more to the hospital.

In the span of an hour Saturday, police, fire and medical personnel responded to three drug overdoses in different areas of town. The first was on Quaker Road, the second Suncrest Road and the third Perry Avenue.

Police and emergency personnel responded to a fourth overdose around 1:30 p.m. at the Garden Park Motel on Westport Avenue motel, where police cordoned off the scene for investigation.

Police Lt. Terry Blake confirmed that an overdose patient was taken from the motel to Norwalk Hospital. He said preliminary investigation shows that evidence at the motel appears consistent with the earlier overdoses.

Around 5 p.m., police responded to another overdose at an Arch Street residence. The man was also taken to Norwalk Hospital.

The names and addressed of the deceased were not released pending family notification.

Based on preliminary investigations, police said the overdoses appear to be related to a type of crack cocaine that is laced with an opioid.

Police responders were advised Saturday to meticulously preserve the scenes of any other overdose incidents.

Norwalk detectives and the Crime Scene Unit are actively investigating these cases. Detectives are awaiting lab analysis of evidence seized at each scene to determine the content of the drug involved. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is assisting with the death investigations.

Anyone with any information is asked to call Norwalk detectives at 203-854-3111.

Anonymous tips can also be left on the police website at www.norwalkpd.com or by text by typing NPD into the text field with the message and sending it to CRIMES (2746370).

Troubling statewide trends

Overdose deaths have been climbing rapidly in recent years. Many believe that people become addicted after being prescribed opioid painkillers by physicians. Last year, 917 died of accidental overdoses in Connecticut. More than half the deaths involved doses containing carfentanil, a powerful synthetic opioid.

The two deaths on Saturday add to what has already been a year plagued by drug overdoses. State Rep. Terrie Wood, R-Darien, said the state is on a pace to hit 1,000 deaths this year.

“What are the words?” Wood said of Saturday’s overdoses. “It’s tragic that two people lost their lives. My heart goes out to those families that lost their loved one.”

Wood and fellow legislators have been working to address the opioid epidemic with legislation in Hartford.

“Were all working together very well with a real passion to make sure we stem these deaths,” she said.

Norwalk’s most recent overdoses highlight a dangerous trend of mixing highly addictive and potentially lethal drugs together, said Ingrid Gillespie, the executive director of Communities 4 Action, a regional resource to support local initiatives to prevent substance abuse.

“These substances by themselves can be dangerous enough, so these combinations of drugs, just in general, can be extremely dangerous and that’s what a lot of people don’t realize when they’re using. Even worse with these combinations, is that people don’t realize what they’re getting,” Gillespie said.

One such additive, a powerful synthetic opioid called carfentanil, has been making its way through Connecticut. The state’s first victim of a drug cocktail containing the substance was a man who died in Norwalk in April.

The man also had a synthetic opioid called U-47700 in his system, another powerful opioid whose threat to public health prompted the DEA to make it a Schedule 1 narcotic.

The DEA says carfentanil is about 10,000 times stronger than morphine, which is often used in medical settings as a painkiller. Carfentanil’s potential presence in the state last year prompted the state’s Health Department to dispense a DEA fact sheet to hundreds of medical emergency service providers last fall. The opioids toxicity poses a threat not only to users, but responders who may come in contact.

In a recent interview with Hearst Connecticut Media, Connecticut Counseling Executive Director Robert Lambert noted another disturbing aspect of fatal overdoses.

“When an overdose happens some people say, ‘I want to try that stuff,’ Lambert said. “They think it’s more potent and they also think ‘It’s not going to happen to me.’”

Thane Grauel contributed to this report.

ptomlinson@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2570; Twitter: @Tomlinson_PE