3 more overdoses push total to 27

MARION – Three more people apparently overdosed on heroin late Tuesday and Wednesday morning, pushing the city's staggering one week spike in overdoses to at least 27.

Both of Wednesday's victims were revived by first responders' use of Narcan and were found in the 200 block of East George Street, said Marion Fire Capts. Adam Fetter Fetter and Wade Ralph. The other overdose was reported at 10:34 p.m. Tuesday, Fetter said.

Two people died last Thursday and Friday.

Ralph said he'd been told by Lt. Chris Adkins of the Marion Police MARMET Task Force that the 'Blue Drop' heroin involved "is in town, and it's going to be here for a little bit."

Mayor Scott Schertzer said city police and fire personnel are working hard to address the rash of overdoses.

"Marion safety forces are on the job, doing what they're supposed to — getting the bad guys who are selling the illegal drugs," Schertzer said. "Our fire department, through emergency squads, are doing their job to save lives as they are sworn to do every day."

Marion is not alone. About 140 miles south on U.S. 23, Portsmouth police also have seen heroin possibly laced with fentanyl, a drug Marion police believe may have been added to the heroin here. Both departments are waiting on Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation lab testing to provide conclusive results.

Fentanyl-laced heroin was the cause of a surge of overdose deaths that led to a nationwide alert from the Drug Enforcement Agency in March.

"We don't know if it's extremely pure or a compound," said Sgt. Jim Charles, part of the Portsmouth Police's detective division.

Portsmouth had eight overdoses by last Friday and five more since then, totaling at least 13, but Charles said this number was "irregular" and there may be additional cases where Narcan was administered by first responders and the patient then refused treatment, preventing them from officially classifying it as an overdose.

Four arrests were made Friday and Saturday as part of a joint investigation with several county and regional agencies, and Charles said prosecutors may take additional cases related to the overdoses before a grand jury for indictments.

A 34-year-old man also was found dead in Marysville on Friday, but Deputy Chief Tony Brooks of the Marysville Police Department said it was premature to attribute his death to a drug overdose, and that it's being treated as an unattended death pending toxicology results.

"There was nothing at the scene that clearly indicated (an overdose) one way or another," Brooks said.

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