Rescuers searched homes and alleys in Baltimore on Thursday, fearing additional victims, and more than two dozen people were admitted to hospitals for suspected heroin overdoses.
In a city where overdoses have been a problem, the crisis involved an exceptionally high number of patients. In a series of pieces published last year, reporters from The Baltimore Banner and The New York Times looked at the nation’s biggest drug overdose catastrophe.
According to an officer who took calls at the Baltimore Police Department’s Western District station early Friday and would not provide his full name, 25 people were hospitalized with suspected overdoses, but no fatalities were reported on Thursday. The Banner first reported on the hospitalizations, quoting police spokesperson Lindsey Eldridge.
The day after Baltimore City Council members held their first public hearing on the city’s drug issue, the overdoses sparked a massive response from emergency medical personnel, law enforcement, public health officials, and state agencies. According to the Times/Banner study, fentanyl was the initial cause of the crisis, but it was made worse by the predatory tactics of certain treatment providers and the inaction of city officials.
According to a statement from the city of Baltimore, officials have not disclosed the kind of substance that was used in the overdoses on Thursday, which are still being investigated.
Around nine in the morning, the Baltimore City Fire Department was called to an overdose in West Baltimore’s Penn North area. James Wallace, the fire chief, stated at a press conference Thursday afternoon that residents guided rescue personnel to other unconscious individuals when they arrived.
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