Police Warn Heroin Batch Causing Overdose Spike, Death

Detective Captain Robert P. Pistone.

Detective Captain Robert P. Pistone.

A rash of heroin overdoses, including one death, yesterday has local officials on alert. They are warning users that an apparently potent batch of the drug is being distributed.

“The Haverhill Police Department would like to warn the public that it has seen an unusually high amount of heroin overdoses within the last 12 hours in the Haverhill area. The obvious message is that citizens that currently use heroin may be at an increased risk of overdose and death as the high incidence of overdoses today indicates the current presence of lethally adulterated heroin in the Haverhill area,” said Detective Captain Robert P. Pistone in a statement Friday night.

Those with information about the source of the deadly batch may leave police an anonymous tip by calling (978) 374-2411 or using an online form here.

Earlier, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported increases in opioid overdose fatalities and seizures caused by the use of fentanyl, causing Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey to press the legislature for help.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey.

“Fentanyl is a highly potent and deadly opioid, and its use is growing exponentially in our state. Massachusetts had the second-most Fentanyl seizures in the country, and yet has no crime for Fentanyl trafficking. We hope the legislature will act soon to pass our Fentanyl trafficking bill, and give our state a new tool to address this growing epidemic.”

Healey and House Judiciary Chairman John Fernandes filed legislation in August that would make trafficking fentanyl a crime. The Massachusetts House of Representatives passed the legislation, but the state senate has not acted on the bill.

“Fentanyl is the most potent opioid available for use in medical treatment and is estimated to be 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin. Predatory drug traffickers frequently mix fentanyl with heroin, often without the knowledge of the buyer. Its euphoric effects are indistinguishable from morphine or heroin,” Healey’s office said this week.

Earlier this month, a Woburn man was indicted in connection with a major drug operation in which authorities seized more than 2,500 grams of pure fentanyl, more than 900 pills, two guns and more than $73,000 in cash. He will be arraigned in November.

2 thoughts on “Police Warn Heroin Batch Causing Overdose Spike, Death

  1. OMG…… big banks. Bernie and Hillary will take care of that ( after the banks give them money). The drug companies are to blame for creating the legal opiod that hooks people legally. What is their punishment ?

  2. “Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey to press the legislature for help.” –

    Maybe someday The People will wake up to the fact that we have yet another Attorney General that does not believe in an equal rule of law. AG Healey, like her predecessor believes that illegal invaders are fine to do harm to Massachusetts Citizens and suck our resources dry, resources that are meant for AMERICANS…I Digress.

    Heroin, once again, is 100% imported, is cheap, and is coming off a record year of cultivation to meet global demand. Like the invaders that come into our country, so does the heroin and opiates manufactured outside our borders. Maybe, just maybe, if it were legalized and regulated, the junkies, addicts, and anyone else thinking of using drugs, could at least use to some degree of safety BECAUSE THEY WOULD KNOW WHAT IS IN IT, just like alcohol. If it were legalized, are YOU going to go by it? Most of us probably not, but those that do will know what they get.

    Oh well, the “War on Drugs” is profitable for Drug Cartels, the banks that launder their money (and not prosecuted), and it keeps Americans employed. So the cost of people dying from drugs is outweighed by its economic incentive to keep the status quo of terrible policy going. I mean, legalizing drugs would put the murderous drug cartels out of business, but it would also put a lot of Americans out of jobs. Then again, when our own government sells guns to drug cartels, and no government employees go to jail for violation of its own laws, this is where we are at.

    #TYRANNY