Overdoses rising as drug source remains unclear
A torrent of drug overdoses is continuing in Cincinnati and across the region, but investigators still don't know exactly what drug is causing them or the sources of the deadly drug.
Cincinnati police and emergency crews responded to another 39 overdoses from Monday through 1 a.m. Wednesday, said city police Sgt. Jamel Smith. The latest count comes after a week of an estimated 185 overdoses and a weekend of another 46, with most occurring on the west side.
The barrage started Aug. 19 in Cincinnati and as of Wednesday tallied about 270 overdoses, according to estimates from city police and the Hamilton County Heroin Coalition.
Dr. Lakshmi Sammarco, the Hamilton County coroner, said Wednesday she has received a sample of the large-animal opioid carfentanil from Summit County, which has also experienced rushes of overdoses, to check it with the blood of three people who died.
Investigators believe the purported heroin contained another powerful opioid. Law enforcement in Hamilton County have identified carfentanil, fentanyl and another analogue, furanylfentanyl, in the heroin stream on the region's streets.
Sammarco said she has not yet ruled out that the substance in recent fatal ODs was fentanyl, the powerful opioid that has been coursing through the region and the United States, raising overdose death rates for at least two years.
East of Cincinnati, Union Township in Clermont County responded to six overdoses on Monday, and one person died. In a typical day, the township responds to either no overdoses or one, said Karen Scherra, executive director of the Clermont County Mental Health and Recovery Board.
In Cincinnati on Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Rob Portman visited firefighters and lauded them for their work in saving people. He also said that he plans to propose legislation during the next U.S. Congress session that would put tighter controls on shipments to the nation. Mexico and China have been identified as sources of fentanyl and carfentanil that comes to the United States. Portman said that because the U.S. Postal Service doesn't have sophisticated screening procedures, "it's often too difficult to detect these drugs before it's too late."
His proposal would require shipments from foreign countries through the postal system to provide electronic advance data on packages before they cross U.S. borders. "That includes information like who and where it is coming from; who it’s going to, where it is going, and what’s in it," according to a statement from Portman, a Terrace Park Republican up for re-election this year against Democrat Ted Strickland. That will "help ensure that dangerous drugs like fentanyl and carfentanil don’t end up in the hands of drug traffickers who want to harm our local communities."
Other states have also been hit by surges in overdoses.
In Northern Kentucky, St. Elizabeth Healthcare reports its own surge of overdoses. The five St. Elizabeth hospitals' emergency rooms calculated 75 overdose saves with naloxone in a week, Aug. 21-28. The non-narcotic can turn around an overdose, restoring breathing in a person who has ingested heroin or opioids.
"We are definitely up, We don’t see 75 in a week," said Ashel Kruetzkamp, nurse manager for St. Elizabeth Edgewood Emergency Department. Last year, St. E's emergency rooms tallied an average of 97 overdoses per month last year.
Elsewhere in Kentucky, hospitals in Louisville saw a burst of overdoses Tuesday night, and one person died.
Local, state and federal investigators who part of the Hamilton County Heroin Coalition are working together to find the source or sources of the killer drugs. An arrest in Cincinnati of a man accused of selling fentanyl that caused 10 to 12 overdoses Aug. 24 and 25 in Montgomery County and Mount Sterling, Kentucky, hasn't been linked to the Cincinnati ordeal, said Newtown Police Chief Tom Synan, who heads the law enforcement task force for the coalition. However, Synan said, police are investigating all possibilities.
Robert Shields, known by the street name "Sosa," was arrested by federal agents in Cincinnati on Aug. 26. He is charged with conspiring to knowingly and intentionally distribute fentanyl. A federal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Lexington states that Shields admitted providing fentanyl that ended up in Mount Sterling and Montgomery County in Kentucky. Shields' age and address were not disclosed in the complaint.
The complaint, filed by a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, states that Shields was arrested in Cincinnati. Initially, agents intended to take an informant to meet Shields to try to buy fentanyl. But Shields called the informant and changed the location, saying police were spotted in their usual meeting spot. Officers intercepted Shields when he left his car after driving erratically on Queen City Avenue, the complaint states.
The officers arrested Shields without incident, the complaint states.
He admitted to selling fentanyl multiple times, the DEA agent stated.
"When I asked Shields about fentanyl, Shields stated, 'That's all that's around.' "