The Connecticut Division of Public Well being is working with regulation enforcement as they examine reviews of overdose sufferers who claimed to solely have smoked marijuana, but suffered overdose signs much like these of an opioid overdose. In at the least one in all these instances, the hashish in query examined optimistic for fentanyl.
In lots of of those instances the sufferers needed to be revived with naloxone, DPH mentioned.
There have been dozens of those instances reported throughout the state since July.
- July 2021- 11 instances
- August 2021 – 9 instances
- September 2021 – 9 instances
- October 1-26 2021 – 10 instances.
A number of of those overdoses occurred in Plymouth, DPH mentioned, and a pattern examined discovered that the hashish examined contained fentanyl.
“That is the primary lab confirmed case of marijuana with fentanyl in Connecticut and presumably the primary confirmed case in United States,” DPH Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani mentioned.
Fentanyl is extremely potent and one of many main causes of overdose deaths in our state.
Public well being officers are warning marijuana customers to concentrate on the hazards of fentanyl and recommends that anybody utilizing illicit medicine know the indicators of an opioid overdose and have naloxone readily available as a precaution.
For those who or somebody you already know is experiencing an overdose, name 911. DPH factors out that Connecticut has a Good Samaritan Law that may provide some safety to callers in these circumstances.
What’s fentanyl?
Based on the CDC, pharmaceutical fentanyl is an artificial opioid that’s authorized for treating extreme ache, usually superior most cancers ache, and that it may be 50 to 100 instances stronger than morphine.
It’s prescribed by a health care provider within the type of transdermal patches or lozenges, nevertheless it can be misused and abused. Some folks use fentanyl illegally by extracting the fentanyl from the patch after which injecting it.
Fentanyl is usually blended with different medicine, corresponding to heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and MDMA – with or with out the person’s information -to improve its euphoric results, in line with the CDC. Medical doctors warn that there isn’t any protected stage of drug use and there are extreme dangers with fentanyl, particularly.
Fentanyl impacts everybody otherwise, primarily based on their dimension, weight and well being, whether or not that individual has taken fentanyl earlier than or if they’re taking different medicine on the identical time, in line with the CDC. The energy of fentanyl varies as effectively. A dose that’s too excessive may cause chest ache, slowed respiratory, seizure, passing out, coma and dying.
Officers with the Nationwide Institutes of Well being report that illegally used fentanyl most frequently related to latest overdoses is made in laboratories and is offered illegally as a powder, dropped onto blotter paper, put in eye droppers and nasal sprays, or made into tablets that seem like different prescription opioids.
