GOSHEN – As if doing heroin
by itself isn’t dangerous enough, when it is mixed with fentanyl,
it can kill you. With that in mind, Orange County District David Hoovler
has piggybacked on a state fentanyl alert.
Hoovler said there has been an uptick in the use of the drug in recent weeks.
“Fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine and when it is mixed with heroin, it creates an extremely potent opioid substance that can cause death,” Hoovler said.
Fentanyl can cause chest wall rigidity where one cannot move his or her chest to breathe. The drug doesn’t even have to be ingested. It can cause a danger just by being absorbed through the skin.
When an opioid overdose is encountered, Hoovler said persons should call 911. More and more police officers and first responders are equipped with Narcan, the miracle drug that can reverse the effects of opioid use.
