Huntington police believe the heroin was laced with something that made it particularly lethal, according to CNN News. “I do not know what it was laced with, but I would love to know at this point,” Cabell County EMS Director Gordon Merry said.
The city of Huntington located in the western part of the state along the Ohio River in Cabell County, West Virginia. Merry held a news conference on Tuesday, reports ABC News. He said it was believed a strong substance had been added to the heroin, and that the majority of the 911 calls came from one apartment complex in the city, leading officials to believe the cases were connected.
“Just to give you an idea, when the first few calls came in, three ambulances were already out dealing with overdoses,” Merry said. There was then a half-hour span where no ambulances were available, added Cabell County EMS assistant supervisor David McClure.
Merry said eight of the victims were revived using the life-saving opioid-overdose-reversing drug naloxone. One victim required three doses of naloxone. Other victims were revived using a manual resuscitator called a bag valve mask to stimulate breathing.
Authorities are hoping that the one overdose death will lead to some clues about what is making the drugs so dangerous. Huntington Chief of Police Joe Ciccarelli said. “The state medical examiner will conduct a toxicology analysis to determine what was in the drug, but that will not come back for about 10 weeks. We did not seize any heroin from the other overdose victims, so we can’t analyze theirs.”
