St. Louis on pace to beat 10 year heroin death record
ST. LOUIS (KTVI) – Despite years of stories about the horrors of heroin, the City of St. Louis is on pace to see the highest heroin overdose death total in a decade.
The DEA warned in April that agents were seeing the deadliest strain yet, hitting the streets back. It did not stop people from buying heroin and we saw a spike in deaths.
St. Louis police have reported finding much of the heroin mixed with fentanyl, which is a synthetic opioid intended for cancer patients.
DEA Special Agent in Charge James Shroba warned on April 8 that his agents were seeing drug traffickers tweaking the chemical compound of fentanyl.
“Hundreds—if not thousands—of times more potent than heroin or other opioids; this will, there will certainly be tragic consequences with these,” Shroba said.
Right after he said that, St. Louis had its worst month this year, with 24 accidental heroin deaths. So far this the year, the total number of heroin overdose deaths has reached 121. The city saw 136 heroin overdose deaths in 2015.
Meanwhile, St. Louis County has already equaled last year’s total, with 26 overdose deaths to date.
As an example of how deadly fentanyl can be, the DEA said an amount the size of a sugar packet could contain one thousand fatal doses.
Filed under: General Problems
I wish we could show the public that pain medication is not heroin. The numbers of deaths due to overdose when using pain medication is not much. I think that the numbers could increase if pain patients can not get their medication. Is no one able to separate the addicts from the pain patients?
I am so sick of hearing how fentanyl is killing heroin abusers! Maybe it sounds cold but if a person willingly sticks a needle filled with heroin in their body and dir it’s their own fault! I didn’t ask to live in pain or indulge in risky behavior that caused it yet I am being made out to be the villain and made to suffer for it! The dam addicts will always find a way to get their high because they don’t care about the law but those of us who need medication to have a halfway normal life will pay the price!