New Jersey Drug Overdose Death Totals Rise Again, Due To Synthetics
CAPE MAY COUNTY, N.J. (CBS)--Due to the proliferation of synthetics, drug overdoses in New Jersey rose again in 2015, leveling the state with the norms of the country, according to date released by the Medical Examiner's Office.
In 2015, 1,587 lives were taken by drug overdoses in New Jersey. They believe the reason is the synthetic drug fentanyl.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that's 50 times more potent than heroine and 100 more potent than morphine, which makes saving lives of those overdosing that much more difficult, especially when its mixed with heroine.
"Now, it may take not one but two deployments of Narcan to save someone who has mixed these drugs together," said Cape May County Prosecutor Robert Taylor, via Press of Atlantic City.
Across the country, deaths involving synthetic opioids exponentially rose 75%. Last year, opioid induced overdoses killed more than 50,000 people in the country.
"This stuff is not grown in underground labs anymore," Chief of the investigative division Cape May County Prosecutor's Office Paul Skill told the Press of Atlantic City. "They can just buy it off the Internet now. There are drug dealers who are packaging up fentanyl and selling it as heroin. If someone gets heroin with fentanyl, that's a lot for an experienced user, but for a newcomer, it's almost a death sentence."