Drug Deaths Continue to Soar in Connecticut

From Danbury Patch comes a disturbing story about the heartbreaking trend of soaring opiate deaths in Connecticut.  

Unfortunately, in 2015, opiate deaths set a new record. What is alarming, are the rise in the number of accidental drug overdoses in Connecticut since 2012, which showed 357. In 2013, ADO rose to 495. There were 568 in 2014, and up to 723 in 2015.

The drug, Fentanyl, which is 80% more powerful than morphine, and hundreds of times more powerful than heroin, killed twice as many people in 2015 than it did in 2014 here in Connecticut. This is one of the nastiest drugs circulating all over the country. Fentanyl laced heroin is the combination that killed actor, Philip Seymour Hoffman.

So what's being done? Governor Dannel Malloy has proposed making it mandatory that primary emergency response providers are equipped and trained to administer the anti-overdose drug, Naloxone, better known as Narcan.

The Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Nancy Navaretta, told Danbury Patch, "The availability of Narcan represents an opportunity for individuals to engage in treatment and start on the road to recovery."

If you feel your life is in danger from a potential drug overdose, call 9-1-1 immediately. For more information, feel free to call The Connecticut Poison Control Center at (800) 222-1222.

Listen to Ethan Carey on the Ethan & Lou Show weekdays from 5:30-10AM on 95.1 FM. You can listen online at i95rock.com/listen-live/ or by downloading the radioPup app for your mobile device.