Overdose crisis leaves investigators desperate to get dealers off the streets

'We're working very closely to find the source dealer.'

The use of fentanyl-laced heroin has resulted in an overdose crisis in the US over the course of a single week.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to Cincinnati.com, a rise in overdoses across the city has left police and emergency responders exhausted and desperate to clean the streets.

Newton Police Chief Tom Synan, who serves as the head of the Hamilton County Heroin Coalition, said local, state and federal authorities have been thoroughly investigating the source, possibly sources, of the fentanyl-laced drugs.

"We're working very closely to find the source dealer," Synan explained before making the unfortunate announcement, "We don't have anything solid to go off of."

USA Today reported 78 overdoses over a two-day period last week and estimated 174 overdose cases in emergency rooms in only six days.

On Tuesday and Thursday alone, New Jersey saw 29 people overdose on free samples of heroin marked with a Batman icon.

One person died in Indiana and twelve others were hospitalized after overdosing on Tuesday.

In Kentucky, twelve people overdosed on Wednesday.

Within a five-hour period, 26 people overdosed within five hours and one person died.

Tim Ingram, the health commissioner for Hamilton County, said, "This is unprecedented to see as many alerts as we've seen in the last six days."

The Hamilton County Commissioner, Dennis Deters, called the rash of overdoses a public health emergency, adding, "It's unlike anything we've seen before."

One of the major problems Cincinnati is experiencing is the lack of technology to test for use of heroin, fentanyl or carfentanil. Tests can only be flagged as positive or negative for opiates.

A call to increase the Heroin and Opiates Response Team's budget has been voiced in hopes of increasing the the number of responders and treatment specialists but whether that call will be answered remains to be seen.

---

The California Network is the Next Wave in delivery of information and entertainment on pop culture, social trends, lifestyle, entertainment, news, politics and economics. We are hyper-focused on one audience, YOU, the connected generation. JOIN US AS WE REDEFINE AND REVOLUTIONIZE THE EVER-CHANGING MEDIA LANDSCAPE.