overdose deaths - what drug are you seeing in your area

[FiremanMike]

Lead, mostly..

Our heroin addicts keep to themselves, for the most part. We certainly have our share of narcan parties, but given our run area, I certainly wouldn't consider it to be a surprising number.

 

[jlw]

Heroin, other opiates, some benzo's, and even a couple benedryl.

 

[STXmedic]

Heroin and a lot of the synthetics (WetWet has spiked lately). The synthetics don't usually die right away, though; they tend to get perma-fried and stuck in the ICU with irretractable seizures and brain death.

 

[COmedic17]

Among the transient population - Heroin and Meth.

Among the student population - Benzos ( primarily Xanax) and adderall.

Been seeing a significant amount of adderall induced seizures in the student population.


And a handful of people taking large quantities of mucinex.. After running a couple people who had taken "a handful" of mucinex, I asked one why and they said "it connects them with the spirit world"... I assume it causes some degree of hallucinations...

 

[k9Dog]

Mainly heroin, crack and meth (San Francisco).

 

[TrueNorthMedic]

Mostly prescription opiates and a bit of cocaine. Crystal meth has been making a huge comeback in the last year or so, which is worrisome. Also people love to OD on baclofen here, too.

 

[Oz army medic]

Ice = Meth and Zombie = Meth con LSD. Rural area in the bush and occasionally White Lady.

 

[FiremanMike]

LSD is back?

 

[18G]

There has been a few overdoses from loperamide (Imodium). Little did I know, loperamide is an opiate derivative and overdoses can be treated with Narcan.

Here is a news story on these overdoses that happened in my region:

http://www.winchesterstar.com/article/officials_warn_of_new_overdose_danger

Imodium (loperamide) Overdose

[INFORMATION FROM LORD FAIRFAX EMS COUNCIL, VA]

There was recently a fatal overdose secondary to the abuse of "Kirkland Anti-Diarrhea" (Loperamide) in the Lord Fairfax region. This is an over the counter medication, below you will find further information regarding Loperamide. The Blue Ridge Poison Control Center has been consulted, further research is being done by them as well. The University of Virginia hospital has already treated several Loperamide overdose patients. The following information was forwarded earlier this week,

"After doing some research and talking with the UVA Poison Control Center (where several such patients have been cared for) I share the following:

1. Loperamide is being used in exceptionally high doses to:

a. Attempt a "do it yourself" detox from Heroin
b. Obtain a "narcotic like high."

2. Early consultation with the Poison Control Center 1-800-222-1222 is imperative

3. Loperamide is a Potassium Channel Blocker and as such results in a prolonged QT interval (up to 700 msec)

4. Patients are at risk for Torsade and other fatal ventricular arrhythmias

5. The prolonged QT is treated with magnesium

 

[Burritomedic1127]

Heroin. Ive had to give Narcan on multiple different occasions to people I went to high school with. Its pretty bad here, we average about 4-5 a shift

 

[Obstructions]

I may have been here only 6 months but I have yet to see any severe OD on anything. The only few I have seen have been on were "benign" OD out of a large addiction recovery facility in our PSA like sleep aids, and cough suppressants (for DMT high).
It sounds like from other crews and state that there is a lot more of heroin around, but I have yet to see it.

 

[Akulahawk]

Where I'm at, we rarely see an OD death. This is primarily due to the fact that it's a very rural county and most of the OD deaths are called on scene. What I see a LOT of is meth OD and the occasional THC OD. I don't mean "weed" but rather the far more concentrated stuff. Only time will tell if Dab pills will be making a solid appearance.

 

[harold1981]

Ever since events started hiring private EMS as a prerequisite to get their permit, we have seen a decline in drug OD's. Cases get solved on the spot by ALS teams who have extra training and lots of experience with party drugs. They are fully equipped to treat the patients for a few hours, up to the point of releasing them and even initially unstable patients rarely get transported from the party scene to a hospital. Lots of prevention work is being done as well: testing of pills, campaigns on safe use, training of security personnel, etc.
When we do see the OD's, it will be anything from cocaine, cannabis, MDMA, GHB, LSD to sometimes LSA, poppers or scopolamine. Heroin or Methadon OD's do happen, but are really rare. I think that in our country, our collegeas in Amsterdam see the whole spectrum of drugs, in all its variaties.

 

[Oz army medic]

LSD is back?

Yeah they mixing the stuff with ice then want to eat us go figure lol

 

[STXmedic]

Made a TI the other day- the guy ended up testing positive for barbiturates... I don't even know the name of any recreational barbiturates...

 

[Oz army medic]

Like wise over here in the bush. It is getting a little rough on what Pt's put in their bodies. Lol

 

[firecoins]

etoh abuse. heroin but no heroes.

 

[Bullets]

Thankfully very little deaths, 2 narcan deployments last year, i think weve had one this year. All the heroin dealers live in my town but the residents usually just smoke a ton of weed, and we're starting to see a lot of synthetic marijuana stuff like K2 which is more difficult.

 

[kindofafireguy]

Tons, and I mean TONS, of synthetic. Ours tends to not be just synthetic but is laced with PCP, industrial cleaners, gasoline, etc. And they like to fight. Also get a lot of straight PCP and crack overdoses. Get pulled over by PD, try to eat the cookie. meth, or whatever they're carrying. Had one eat over 7 grams of crack and 100+tabs of E.

 

[wilderness911]

Out in the Bay Area there have been a lot of ODs recently due to fentanyl-laced heroin and fake Xanax. Seems to be splitting the line between the typical junkie crowd (smack) and the upper middle class kids (Xanax). This is a phenomenon that I really don't understand - wouldn't fentanyl be much more difficult to get ahold of, and much pricier, than either of the drugs they are cutting with it?

Either way, the subtleties of micrograms vs milligrams were clearly lost on whoever put the stuff together. Idiots.