Overdose Deaths on the Rise

By Joseph Domelowicz Jr.

Lynn police reported that two more people died of apparent heroin overdoses on Monday, bringing the total number of fatal overdoes for February to seven, including a rash of five fatal overdoses that occurred between February 3 and February 7, when Lynn police speculated that a “bad batch” of the illegal narcotic was in circulation here.

By comparison, the city saw a total of 26 opioid overdoses in January, but only two of those were fatal, as the other victims were revived, by emergency responders.

According to Lynn Police Lieutenant Rick Donnelly, the two overdoes on Monday involved a 40-year old man who was found in a home on Green Street and a 42-year old woman in an apartment on Western Avenue.

Lynn police have noted that the overdose deaths could have been caused by the drug fentanyl, which is a prescription painkiller that is chemically similar to Heroin and therefore classified as an opioid. Fentanyl is 100 times stronger than heroin and heroin users who take fentanyl often put themselves at risk of an overdose

The Lynn Police Drug Task Force is investigating these cases.

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