PEORIA, Ill. – Local officials are once again sounding an alarm after first responders went to reports of overdoses in Peoria five times on Christmas Day.
This, after there were four overdose deaths in Peoria on one weekend several weeks ago.
“We had people report to us, people who we responded to for overdoses, tell us that there is a ‘bad batch’ going around town,” said Josh Bradshaw, Community Resource Manager, AMT, to 25 News. “That included heroin and possibly cocaine as well.”
That’s in addition to Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood’s concern about the four overdose deaths that he says were tied to a polysubstance being sold as heroin. So the overall increase in overdoses concerns him.
“We’re very suspicious of something that’s not ordinarily in the population that we serve every day,” said Harwood. “So we’re heightened in our notion that there’s something very dangerous out there,” Harwood said.
Bradshaw, meanwhile, says it’s okay to call 911 if you know someone who has overdosed, and that you won’t go to jail for it.
He says Narcan has had to be administered to victims 27 times this month alone.
