Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office issues overdose alert
Okeechobee, FL-The Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office has issued an overdose alert after a rash of recent opioid overdoses, including one death and another incident that harmed a deputy.
According to the sheriff’s office, deputies responded to eight overdoses in just three days. All involved heroin possibly laced with fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid.
In one case, a responding deputy came in contact with the heroin and was treated by paramedics, but was not seriously hurt.
The sheriff’s office said, of the eight cases, deputies responded to the same address three times in two days.
Narcan, a life-saving medication to treat opioid overdoses, was used to revive all the patients. However, in one case, an opioid user died.
Sheriff Noel Stephen added this wave of overdoses is stretching his department thin, and forcing narcotics detectives to work overtime to identify the source of the opioids.
The sheriff said his department knows the origin of the “bad dope,” and is now pursuing arrests.
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