Mass overdose of ‘K2’ Synthetic Marijuana in Connecticut – IOTW Report

Mass overdose of ‘K2’ Synthetic Marijuana in Connecticut

Hartford Courant: In about 12 hours Wednesday, more than 30 people — most of whom had been on the New Haven green — were treated for overdoses of a drug known as “K2” laced a with a synthetic opioid, police said. The number of overdose cases had grown to 46 cases by, about 6:30 Wednesday night, the city said.

By late Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Toni Harp had increased police presence on the green, and directed that the New Haven Fire Department and AMR ambulance maintain an around-the clock incident-command center there. She also asked that the city be given larger supplies of the opioid antidote Narcan from the state Department of Public Health, said city spokesman Laurence Grotheer.

Authorities said the patients had smoked “K2,” a synthetic cannabinoid, mixed with the powerful opioid fentanyl. The patients were taken to area hospitals for overdose-related respiratory illnesses, Officer David Hartman said.

“With the exception of one patient, thus far, the illnesses are largely not life-threatening and concentrated to a portion of the New Haven green,” Hartman said.

Fire Department first responders were handling so many calls that they were experiencing “compassionate-care fatigue” and had to be rotated off the engine companies, said New Haven Fire Chief John Alston.

He said this was the single largest concentration of overdose victims that the department had experienced. The city mounted a mass-casualty response, including fire, police, ambulances, emergency management, city health department and Yale-New Haven Hospital personnel, said Rick Fontana, emergency management director.

Alston said drug overdoses in New Haven, as in other cities, are at epidemic proportions and that the city is in the grip of a public health crisis. MORE

17 Comments on Mass overdose of ‘K2’ Synthetic Marijuana in Connecticut

  1. “….the illnesses are largely non life threatening…..”

    Wait……….what!? And you’re wasting costly time and resources on this? Not to mention fatiguing your city emergency workers?

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  2. like I’ve said time & time again … rent out stadiums, give ’em all the drugs of their choice …. bet on the survivors or first to croak, whatever …. saves taxpayer $$$ …. Pay-per-view …

    p.s. all I want is the t-shirt concession … “I went to Drugfest ’18 & all I got was this lousy t-shirt”, “I survived Drugfest ’18”, etc.

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  3. Preliminary estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that drug overdoses killed a record 72,300 Americans last year.
    I suspect 2018 will be greater.

    BUILD the WALL.

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  4. Synth is more powerful than you can
    even imagine.There was some stuff from
    Germany here in Texas before it was illegal.
    Double Dutch & Remix. 1 puff and off you
    go on a mind bending trip and then to the
    emergency room…

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  5. It’s a shame they picked “K2” as a name. Vitamin K2 mk 7 should be researched by anyone concerned with heart health (along with Natokinase). And K2 mk4 for osteoporosis.

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