After more than two dozen drug overdoses were reported in about four hours in Huntington, police said they hadn't seen any signs of an especially dangerous batch of heroin making its way to Charleston.
First responders in Huntington were overwhelmed Monday afternoon when 27 people overdosed in a little more than four hours, more than they typically respond to in a week, according to Gordon Merry, director of the Cabell County EMS. The overdoses began at about 3:30 p.m. and occurred in the area of Sycamore Street and Saint Lewis Avenue, near Marcum Terrace, a low-income housing complex.
No one died. First responders either used naloxone, a drug that reverses the effects of an opiate overdose, or ventilated the patients' lungs using a "bag-valve-mask." Some people had to be given more than one dose of naloxone.
Merry surmised that the heroin was laced with another potent drug, but didn't know which. He said first responders typically respond to about 18 to 20 overdoses a week in Cabell County.
A local addiction expert and a police officer who specializes in drug investigations both said addicts sometimes seek out especially dangerous batches of heroin when they hear that a potent batch is in town.
As of Tuesday afternoon, though, Merry said no more overdoses had been reported in Huntington.
Charleston gets much of its heroin from Huntington, according to Charleston Police Lt. Eric Johnson, commander of the Metro Drug Unit.
He said Huntington is a "primary source" for heroin in Charleston, although he noted that several other cities are, as well, including Detroit, Atlanta and Columbus, Ohio.
Like Cabell County, Kanawha County has one of the highest rates of heroin-related overdose deaths in West Virginia.
Kanawha County Sheriff's Sgt. Brian Humphreys said a few reported heroin overdoses occurred in the county on Monday, although he said some overdoses might have been classified as another type of medical incident. He said late Tuesday afternoon that no heroin overdoses had been reported in Kanawha County that day.
Johnson said heroin use and overdoses happen often in the area - this particular batch just happened to make the news because of the frequency of the overdoses.
"It happens every day," he said. "The average person doesn't hear about it until it's a [news] media story."
Johnson noted that addiction to drugs is a physical and psychological condition.
"Keep in mind, when it comes to any opiate addict, once you are addicted, you have to have that drug," Johnson said. "It's the absence of the drug that makes you feel bad and sick. It's anything to relieve those feelings of sickness and pain."
Johnson, and Matt Boggs, executive director of the Recovery Point treatment center, said news of the overdoses might encourage some addicts to seek out the dangerous batch. Johnson said that, sometimes, they presume overdoses mean a batch is "very potent."
However, he noted "because heroin, unlike [other] opiates, is not controlled, there's no way of knowing what that heroin consists of - or even if it's heroin at all."
Boggs said, "They'll think, 'I won't use as much. I'll use a little bit less.'"
"The problem with heroin is that one baggie might be a certain potency and the next baggie might be a completely different potency," he said.
He said the addicts' disease convinces them they won't overdose, like the others.
"They think they're unique," he said, "that it won't happen to them."
For those addicts who might be tempted to seek out heroin, he suggested calling 1-844- HELP4WV.
"I'd encourage them to reach out for help," he said.
Police had not announced an arrest of the dealer or dealers as of Tuesday afternoon. Merry said he doubted any of the overdose survivors or witnesses would reveal the source, as usually happens in Huntington.
"They do not," he said. "They do, they wind up not telling anything else."
Reach Erin Beck at erin.beck@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5163, Facebook.com/erinbeckwv or follow @erinbeckwv on Twitter.