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Six Overdose On Heroin In Anoka, Connecticut In Just 12 Hours

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Six people overdosed on heroin in Anoka County, Minnesota, local authorities confirmed. The cases are under investigation in what is an “alarming” wave of drug abuse. Two of the victims died.

On Friday, law enforcement found three individuals unconscious at the Mall of America from what appeared to be overdoses. The victims were all in their 20s, according to the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office. The six overdoses all happened within 12 hours, startling drug abuse experts and police officials across Minnesota, CBS reports.

Commander Paul Sommer from the Sheriff’s Office says first responders were able to administer Naloxene to those who survived. Naloxene is a medication designed to block the effects of opioids during an overdose, and is used all over the country for emergency resuscitation. The medicine’s brand name is Narcan.

Sommer said,

This particular incident kind of raised our hackles, because they came in so quick.

He believes that the batch of heroin the victims used was more potent than what users are accustomed to.

Randy Anderson, a counselor with the Steve Rummler Hope Foundation, said, “We haven’t seen something like this yet in our state as far back as I can remember.”

All six people did not know each other, and investigators are now trying to determine if the heroin came from one source.

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) reports that drug overdose deaths rose 11% from 2014 to 2015.

The Sheriff’s Office says it intends to ask for third-degree murder charges should investigators find the supplier of the drugs that led to the fatal overdoses. The problem the police now face is that there are samples to test, as the people who overdosed apparently used all they had. But there are “other investigative avenues” that they can consider, Sommer said, according to KARE 11.

Sommer also mentioned that at the family of one of the men who died had no idea that he had drug problems, adding that it’s not uncommon that family members are not aware of a loved one’s addictions.

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