{"id":102321,"date":"2018-08-16T09:28:46","date_gmt":"2018-08-16T13:28:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=102321"},"modified":"2018-08-16T09:29:54","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T13:29:54","slug":"who-is-covertly-drugging-american-kids-with-fentanyl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=102321","title":{"rendered":"Who is covertly drugging American kids with fentanyl?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 class=\"story-body__h1\">Arrest after dozens overdose in Connecticut park<\/h1>\n<p><!--more-->BBC<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_102322\" style=\"width: 670px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/103031766_de07.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-102322\" class=\"size-full wp-image-102322\" src=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/103031766_de07.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"371\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/103031766_de07.jpg 660w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/103031766_de07-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-102322\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">CBS &#8211; More than 40 people have overdosed in a park near Yale University since Tuesday<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"story-body__introduction\">A man has been arrested in the US after more than 40 people overdosed in a Connecticut park on a drug suspected of being laced with an opioid, police say.<\/p>\n<p>The first cases were reported near Yale University on Tuesday night, officials say. Some are in critical condition.<\/p>\n<p>They are believed to have taken doses of K2, a synthetic drug marketed as being similar to marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>The incident comes in the wake of a new report that found a record 72,000 Americans died of overdoses in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>The man arrested on Wednesday is suspected of being connected to some of the drugs that caused the overdoses,\u00a0<a class=\"story-body__link-external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nbcconnecticut.com\/news\/local\/Police-Investigating-Several-Overdoses-on-New-Haven-Green-in-Last-12-Hours--490923131.html\">NBC News Connecticut reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Kathryn Hawk, an Emergency Department physician at Yale New Haven Hospital, said the drug was laced with fentanyl, but police have yet to confirm this.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"story-body__unordered-list\">\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-40136881\">The 100 words that triggered the opioid crisis<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-43146286\">Opioid addiction mail-ordered to your door<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-40479686\">Five ways to tackle the US drug epidemic<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>On Tuesday night, emergency crews responded to three overdoses in New Haven Green park.<\/p>\n<p>Eighteen people collapsed on Wednesday morning within a span of three-and-a-half hours, officials said.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the people were unconscious &#8211; others were vomiting or exhibiting other overdose symptoms.<\/p>\n<p>Naloxone, a drug used to treat narcotic overdoses in emergencies, appears to have been ineffective in relieving the symptoms.<\/p>\n<p>The slew of overdoses comes as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) published\u00a0<a class=\"story-body__link-external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/nchs\/nvss\/vsrr\/drug-overdose-data.htm\">a preliminary report<\/a>\u00a0on Wednesday on the record number of American drug deaths.<\/p>\n<p>According to the estimates, drugs &#8211; particularly fentanyl &#8211; are now deadlier in the US than HIV, car crashes and guns.<\/p>\n<p>Synthetic opiates like fentanyl, which is 30-50 times more potent than heroin, are extremely dangerous.<\/p>\n<p>Just 2mg of fentanyl &#8211; the equivalent of a few grains of table salt &#8211; is a lethal dosage for most people, and even exposure can cause a fatal reaction, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).<\/p>\n<p>Fentanyl is approved as an anaesthetic and for pain relief, but its high profit margin for traffickers has made it a key drug in the US opioid crisis.<\/p>\n<p>The CDC reported that between 2015 and 2016, the rate of drug overdose deaths in the US involving synthetic opioids such as fentanyl had doubled.<\/p>\n<p>In New Haven, Fire Chief John Alston Jr told reporters the opiate problem is a far-reaching one.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;People are self-medicating for several different reasons and every agency &#8211; police, fire, medical, hospitals &#8211; all are strained at this time,&#8221; Chief Alston said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is a problem that&#8217;s not going away.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-45200231\">http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-45200231<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arrest after dozens overdose in Connecticut park<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=102321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102321\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=102321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=102321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=102321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}