HARTFORD, Conn. _ Hartford police said Tuesday morning that five people died from overdoses in the city within 15 hours. Sixteen more people have died of overdoses this year than in all of 2018.
All of the overdoses appear to involve fentanyl, the powerful, synthetic opioid that is which is sometimes mixed with other illegal drugs, Lt. Paul Cicero said.
Lately, the dangerous drug has surfaced in pill form, and people don't realize what they are ingesting. A few weeks ago, two people died after ingesting pills that they thought were ecstasy, Cicero said.
The capital city has already topped last year's rate of overdose deaths with 38 fatal ODs, he said. Last year, 22 people died.
Detectives investigate the deaths the way they would a homicide, Cicero said. They talk to survivors, examine the drugs' packaging and try to figure out where the deadly substance came from.
Besides heroin, police lately have seen fentanyl mixed with cocaine and crack cocaine, Cicero said. Fentanyl is a painkiller like morphine but 50-100% more potent, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
