A mass drug overdose saw over two dozen people rushed to hospital after a new street drug was reportedly given out to unsuspecting users to test.
The incident unfolded in Baltimore on Thursday morning, leaving men and women sprawled across the streets of the Penn North neighborhood.
Officials have said that there were no fatalities but at least 27 people had to be rushed to hospital following the suspected overdoses.
Fire Chief James Wallace said in an update on Friday that seven were in a critical condition, 15 were in a serious condition while the rest were noncritical.
Authorities in the city have yet to formally reveal the drug responsible and who administered it, but local residents told WJZ that it is a new drug given out as a tester.
Those who spoke with the outlet said it was called ‘New Jack City’, alleging that it was laced with Freon or antifreeze. No arrests have been made.
Wallace said on Thursday that emergency teams found people along two intersecting avenues, subway platforms, and alleyways.
Rescue teams had to spread out across the area, searching for others who had overdosed out of sight.
The incident unfolded in Baltimore on Thursday morning, and left men and women sprawled across the streets of the Penn North neighborhood
Officials have said that there were no fatalities but at least 27 people had to be rushed to hospital following the suspected overdoses
Police teams used surveillance cameras to track people and canvassed locals to find others, the city’s deputy police commissioner Kevin Jones said.
WBAL reporter Tori Yorgey posted on her X page that in the 90 minutes she spent at the scene reporting she saw two people overdosing.
Mayor Brandon Scott, alongside Wallace, said on Friday that emergency teams would remain canvassing the area and administering Narcan.
Sarah Whaley of the Mayor’s Office of Overdose Response said teams would be in place to hand out Narcan, test strips and public health messaging.
She added: ‘If you are using today, please do not use alone. Please go slow and have Narcan available.’
Scott said: ‘The days of approaching drug addiction and overdose as a criminal thing are gone.
‘The police department will deal with the actual folks that are providing and dealing drugs, and bring this into the community.
‘But when you are talking about folks that are using, we have to be ready to help them with the services they need – when they are ready for them.’
According to the CDC, drug overdose deaths have climbed 500 percent between 1999 and 2022.
A box overflowing with Narcan can be seen here at the scene, it was used to attempt to revive those found to have overdosed
The CDC said that over that time period they have identified three distinct causes, the first involving prescription opioids, then heroin, followed by synthetic opioids.
It came just one day after the local City Council held a public hearing on the drug crisis, headed by Councilwoman Phylicia Porter.
She said in an interview with The Baltimore Banner on Thursday: ‘It underscores the urgency that we have and continue to have to promote harm reduction approaches in Baltimore.’
In an investigation led by The Banner and The New York Times, they found that the overdose epidemic in Baltimore had killed nearly 6,000 people since 2018.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore said: ‘Our team is coordinating with state agencies, city officials, and first responders on the ground in West Baltimore today.
‘I’m grateful to those who quickly alerted us about this situation, and those who are providing support to the community.’
