By Mollie Markowitz
WMAL
WASHINGTON — Fairfax County police are investigating a deadly week of opioid overdoses. In just the past week, six people died from over drug overdoses in Fairfax County, and five of those deaths are believed to be caused by opioids, county police said Friday.
The first overdose death occurred Friday, December 1 in Alexandria. The second death happened on Sunday in Fairfax Station. The third and fourth deaths were on Wednesday in McLean and Clifton. The fifth death occurred yesterday in Fairfax. The victims were young, all between the ages of 22 and 34.
County narcotics detectives suspect that heroin laced with fentanyl or carfentanil, synthetic opioids which can be lethal even in the smallest doses, has been circulating in the community and could be the cause of such widespread overdosing. Lab tests have not yet confirmed the mix of drugs involved in the five fatalities, police said.
Virginia declared a public health emergency last year to combat the state’s opioid epidemic. Since the start of 2017, there have been 102 fatal overdoses in Fairfax County. Of those 102 overdose fatalities, about 70 percent have been confirmed to be opioid related.
“In my 20 years in Narcotics, I have never seen anything like this,” said 2nd Lt. James Cox of the Organized Crime and Narcotics Division, “We don’t want to see anyone else die.”
The Chris Atwood Foundation, which works with recovering opioid addicts, will be distributing Narcan, an overdose reversal drug, on Friday evening between 6 and 8 p.m. at 11890 Sunrise Drive Valley in Reston, which can be obtained anonymously.
Copyright 2017 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (Photo: CNN)
