Spike in overdoses

[Jamie-K]

Anyone else seeing more people really effed up or overdosing lately? I'm starting to wonder if theres some bad (like worse than normal) dope going around I've dealt with 3 ODs in less than a week and im seeing more people walking around town that look like extras from the walking dead I keep narcan handy in my vehicle and office and went through my whole stash and had to call the peer support group in town to get a whole sack of extras. One of the ODs was the worst (and honestly mad me laugh the most as bad as that sounds) I've ever dealt with. The guy made me really fight to keep him alive then decided to rise from the dead and speak jibberish to the emts. I'm getting really burnt out and have been on edge all week.

Between the increasing overdoses and the shortage of first responders ... I'm not sure how you're managing ???
Hero sometimes gets thrown around too easily, but you are a hero to those you save, even if they don't recognize it !

 

[GunsCarsPlanes]

I hate to say it, but I don't think it'll get better any time soon. The Left is doing their best to destroy this country and with runaway inflation, supply chain issues, the continuing boogeyman of COVID and the culture wars, so certain people will turn to drugs to cope and inevitably need your services...

Yeah I don't know about that. I get the general gist of what you're saying and I lean pretty far to the right but I don't think what you stated is the root cause.

People like drugs, they like getting high and the feeling it's as simple as that. Opiate addiction is unique and the habit just isn't manageable long term. The problem is multifold...
1.) Prescription opiate-based pills are getting very hard to come by (compared to years gone by)
2.) Even if prescriptions were available a persons tolerance goes up and they graduate to harder stuff a.k.a. heroin
3.) Using heroin gets VERY expensive VERY fast
4.) Fentanyl is a fraction of the price and 50x more of a high for the user
5.) Fentanyl is a fraction of the price and easier to come by for the dealer

There is more I could go into but overall it's just a perfect storm of unique circumstances that are causing the OD rate to skyrocket. Now what makes people use drugs in the first place, that's something where there are so many contributing factors. Could you say a few of those "many factors" are COVID induced job loss, everyone staying home and being bored, loss of motivation to even care........ yeah probably but all of the recent OD's aren't from inflation and stuff.

 

[Somemedic]

One of our paramedics intubated an od and was exposed to carfentanyl which we had no idea at the time. 10mins after the exposure we had to nearly empty our drug box of naloxone to get spontaneous respiration back.

N Lake co hasn't 'seemed' to have more as of late. Steady but I wouldn't note an sudden influx recently.

 

[wtburnette]

Yeah I don't know about that. I get the general gist of what you're saying and I lean pretty far to the right but I don't think what you stated is the root cause.

People like drugs, they like getting high and the feeling it's as simple as that. Opiate addiction is unique and the habit just isn't manageable long term. The problem is multifold...
1.) Prescription opiate-based pills are getting very hard to come by (compared to years gone by)
2.) Even if prescriptions were available a persons tolerance goes up and they graduate to harder stuff a.k.a. heroin
3.) Using heroin gets VERY expensive VERY fast
4.) Fentanyl is a fraction of the price and 50x more of a high for the user
5.) Fentanyl is a fraction of the price and easier to come by for the dealer

There is more I could go into but overall it's just a perfect storm of unique circumstances that are causing the OD rate to skyrocket. Now what makes people use drugs in the first place, that's something where there are so many contributing factors. Could you say a few of those "many factors" are COVID induced job loss, everyone staying home and being bored, loss of motivation to even care........ yeah probably but all of the recent OD's aren't from inflation and stuff.

Yep, I agree. My statement was more along the lines of additional reasons. There will always be drug use. There will always be people wanting to chase a high. With the increase in depression due to COVID and the culture wars, I just feel like even more are turning to tune out reality with drugs or alcohol.

 

[GunsCarsPlanes]

Yep, I agree. My statement was more along the lines of additional reasons. There will always be drug use. There will always be people wanting to chase a high. With the increase in depression due to COVID and the culture wars, I just feel like even more are turning to tune out reality with drugs or alcohol.

I spent my entire life in South Boston, MA and then I just moved out here to IL (few minutes outside of Chicago) so in a sick and twisted sort of way I suppose I'm always exposed to the latest and greatest fads when it comes to extreme drugs and being able to witness first hand what's become popular and killing people more than other drugs.

My point is I'm kind of surprised that fentanyl has taken this long to really surprise people in the state of Indiana. Chicago is probably like the second or third most popular destination for drug trafficking so I'd think anything within a 2 hour radius of Chicago would show the same trends at the same time.

Maybe it's just OP's perspective and trends really are in line. Fentanyl is a really bad problem people for the most part have no idea how deep its roots are.

....I'm posting here because I've been home shopping for 7 months and I've made up my mind to move into Indiana. I'll be joining your kick ass state where everyone has an awesome pole barn in 4-5 months.

 

[Ingomike]

I hate to say it, but I don't think it'll get better any time soon. The Left is doing their best to destroy this country and with runaway inflation, supply chain issues, the continuing boogeyman of COVID and the culture wars, so certain people will turn to drugs to cope and inevitably need your services...

The problem is multifold...

So wtb is correct but there are also other issues…

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I spent my entire life in South Boston, MA and then I just moved out here to IL (few minutes outside of Chicago) so in a sick and twisted sort of way I suppose I'm always exposed to the latest and greatest fads when it comes to extreme drugs and being able to witness first hand what's become popular and killing people more than other drugs.

My point is I'm kind of surprised that fentanyl has taken this long to really surprise people in the state of Indiana. Chicago is probably like the second or third most popular destination for drug trafficking so I'd think anything within a 2 hour radius of Chicago would show the same trends at the same time.

Maybe it's just OP's perspective and trends really are in line. Fentanyl is a really bad problem people for the most part have no idea how deep its roots are.

....I'm posting here because I've been home shopping for 7 months and I've made up my mind to move into Indiana. I'll be joining your kick ass state where everyone has an awesome pole barn in 4-5 months.

I want an awesome pole barn... I do have an awesome toolshed that my dad built though.

 

[The Bubba Effect]

I find it interesting that all of the whining and gnashing of teeth on INGO about the sad state of affairs today is mostly by the same generation that caused the majority of it.

Almost like they are the same generation that spent their entire lives throwing trash out their car windows and are now complaining because the roadsides are so trashy.

 

[BiscuitsandGravy]

I spent my entire life in South Boston, MA and then I just moved out here to IL (few minutes outside of Chicago) so in a sick and twisted sort of way I suppose I'm always exposed to the latest and greatest fads when it comes to extreme drugs and being able to witness first hand what's become popular and killing people more than other drugs.

My point is I'm kind of surprised that fentanyl has taken this long to really surprise people in the state of Indiana. Chicago is probably like the second or third most popular destination for drug trafficking so I'd think anything within a 2 hour radius of Chicago would show the same trends at the same time.

Maybe it's just OP's perspective and trends really are in line. Fentanyl is a really bad problem people for the most part have no idea how deep its roots are.

....I'm posting here because I've been home shopping for 7 months and I've made up my mind to move into Indiana. I'll be joining your kick ass state where everyone has an awesome pole barn in 4-5 months.

No awesome polebarn but an awesome 100+ year old post-and-beam barn with 2 levels and haymow. There is an old saying... 'A plump wife and a big barn never did a man any harm'.

 

[freekforge]

The crazy part is near the end of my wife's pregnancy I decided to take a break from all public service be it IGR, police, and fire to focus on our family and her since she had a rough pregnancy and went into preterm labor a few times. I've seen more ODs in the last couple months than I have in years of public service before. While checking out one guy i watched as another collapsed. I've seen guys go down at my job in fabrication and out on the streets. I told my wife a few weeks ago that I love the time home with the family but I have this yearning to help others again. She jokingly said last week "it looks like you got your wish you're back in the game" lol.

 

[freekforge]

Between the increasing overdoses and the shortage of first responders ... I'm not sure how you're managing ???
Hero sometimes gets thrown around too easily, but you are a hero to those you save, even if they don't recognize it !

I dont think I did anything really noteworthy. I had the stuff and have done it before so why not. The ones that have happened at work I feel it's my responsibility to take care of our guys even if it is stupidity they brought on themselves.

 

[CHCRandy]

This is a widely perpetuated myth. DUID (cannabis included) cases involving fatality crashes are rapidly rising. Another myth is that cannabis users will drive more slowly and carefully.

I have. In fact, I represent the family of the deceased and have the test results and accident reconstruction to prove it.

I won't go into the details, but driving with dulled senses, from any cause, can be deadly.

I am sure it does happen.....which is why I said "I" have never known of a pothead crashing and killing someone, and Lord knows, back in the days I could have been known to roll around with my fair share of stoners. Now I am not saying I have never known a pothead to wreck, I have just never personally known a pothead that killed a person while crashing. I can see where smoking pot could cause you to be distracted, but so can a cell phone, children in back seat, spilling your drink or dropping your cigarette......

On the other hand, I have lost probably 20 friends to drunk driving in 35 years, where it was not a result of distraction, but a result of being drunk or killed by someone that is drunk.

Just to be clear......I do not condone driving under the influence of any drug, including those Doctors prescribe.

 

[CHCRandy]

One of our paramedics intubated an od and was exposed to carfentanyl which we had no idea at the time. 10mins after the exposure we had to nearly empty our drug box of naloxone to get spontaneous respiration back.

N Lake co hasn't 'seemed' to have more as of late. Steady but I wouldn't note an sudden influx recently.

That will be the next Fentanyl......that stuff is 100 times more powerful than Fentanyl. The same amount of that a Vet uses to sedate an elephant, will kill 50 humans almost instantly.

 

[funeralweb]

One of my sons told me that people are even putting fentanyl in weed ........
Someone is trying to kill people .....

4 years ago I handled a case where a guy in his 40s who only ever smoked a little recreational weed got some that had been laced with fentanyl. He ended up on a vent for a few days while the family wrestled with removal from life support.

 

[funeralweb]

If they keep killing their customers or scaring them off of it, it's bad business for the bottom line.

It sounds crazy but demand goes up.

 

[Daburkster]

Anyone else seeing more people really effed up or overdosing lately? I'm starting to wonder if theres some bad (like worse than normal) dope going around I've dealt with 3 ODs in less than a week and im seeing more people walking around town that look like extras from the walking dead I keep narcan handy in my vehicle and office and went through my whole stash and had to call the peer support group in town to get a whole sack of extras. One of the ODs was the worst (and honestly mad me laugh the most as bad as that sounds) I've ever dealt with. The guy made me really fight to keep him alive then decided to rise from the dead and speak jibberish to the emts. I'm getting really burnt out and have been on edge all week.

ODs happen all the time. It is getting worse from what I’m seeing

 

[freekforge]

Reviving this one. We're seeing more and more ODs and more and more fentanyl. County picked up 40 grams of m30 pills today.

If anyone wants narcan overdose lifeline has a map to find locations that have it. It's not just junkies that od it could be a baby that found mom and dad's stash, a 14yo that tried drugs for the first time or grandma misread the rx bottle. If you carry it look up the symptoms of and od and watch a couple yt videos of actual ODs (not cops supposedly oding) learn what to look for so you can provide the best care possible. Act in good faith, call 911 and cooperate with authorities and you'll be covered against legal action.

And you're not going to od from touching them or their clothes/belongings. Fentanyl is horrible but it isn't the boogeyman the media makes it out to be. ODs from passive exposure are insanely rare.


Side note the dude from the original post is in jail for auto theft and is now addicted to meth. So he took my advice and stayed away from the pills and heroin he just picked up meth lol.

 

[Zexrain]

This economy sucks.. People are gonna become desperate and turn to bad habits to cope.

 

[Hookeye]

Wonder how many ODs are just voter's remorse (Biden) ?

A bit of a joke, and not........if you think about it.

 

[bwframe]

1-Year-Old Boy Dies of Suspected Opioid Exposure at a Bronx Day Care

Three other children who appeared to have come into contact with fentanyl or another narcotic were revived with Narcan, officials said.

www.nytimes.com

‘Kilo press’ found at Bronx daycare where 1-year-old boy died, 3 others hospitalized

THE BRONX, N.Y. (PIX11) — A kilo press that packages “large quantities of drugs” was found inside a Bronx day care, where four small children overdosed, one fatally, according to …

pix11.com

1-year-old dead, 3 other children hospitalized after possibly consuming fentanyl at Bronx day care: sources

The children ate something at around 1 p.m. before a nap, according to police sources.

nypost.com