Officials said 76 people overdosed Wednesday and six more were treated Thursday. Authorities described a chaotic scene where people were dropping to the ground unconscious, others vomiting and some becoming lethargic. Social workers and mental health professionals also responded to the New Haven Green, where most of the overdoses happened Wednesday. New Haven is in southern Connecticut, about 80 miles from New York.ĬNN’s Eric Levenson, Evan Simko-Bednarski, Elizabeth Joseph, Kristina Sgueglia and Polo Sandoval contributed to this report.Police swarmed a Connecticut park near Yale University and searched people’s homes for drugs Thursday in an effort to prevent more overdoses from a batch of synthetic marijuana blamed hospitalizing more than 70 people. In May, for example, 25 people were hospitalized in one area of Brooklyn, New York, after having negative reactions to what was believed to be K2, police said.įirst responders in New Haven initially suspected the drugs were laced with some form of opioid, so they used Narcan, which combats opioid overdoses, on the patients. Synthetic marijuana has caused similar mass hospitalizations in one localized area in the past. That wide range is because the drugs that are used change from batch to batch. They can be anywhere from 2 to 100 times more potent than THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, researchers have said. K2 synthetic weed use spiked in 2015, says CDC Susannah Bryan/Sun Sentinel/MCT via Getty Image Police are beginning to crack down on synthetic drugs. Nice Guy, sits behind the glass counter at a Kwik Stop in Hollywood, Florida. Synthetic marijuana, sold in colorful packages with names like Cloud Nine, Maui Wowie and Mr. Synthetic cannabinoids like K2 are man-made chemicals that can be either sprayed on dried plants and smoked or sold as liquids to be inhaled in e-cigarettes or other devices. “We are continuing with the investigation to see how high up (the drug distribution goes) and trying to get to the source of it,” he said. “We want people to be warned that what they have could be extremely dangerous.”Īuthorities say they are unsure as to where the drugs came from, he said. He wanted citizens who had purchased drugs to be aware. “The evidence photos do not mean that we have seized all of the contaminated K2 that was out there,” he said. He said he hoped releasing the names and photos of the suspects as well as pictures of the K2 would prevent other people from overdosing. Laurence Grotheer, the spokesman for the New Haven mayor, said not all transports were ruled as overdoses, adding that some of the transported patients were determined to have suffered heatstroke.īut just because police have caught one suspected dealer and there were no problems Friday doesn’t mean the crisis is over, the chief said. At least 10 people overdosed more than once and were transported by ambulance several times, he said. Campbell said there were no calls so far Friday. There’s even three churches inside the park,” David Hartman, a New Haven Police spokesman told CNN.Īn official said there were 114 calls for people needing to go to a hospital this week. Home to a historic burial ground, the park gets lots of foot traffic and is family-friendly with “elm trees, lawn and fountains. More than 90 people overdosed on K2 in one New Haven parkĪlmost all of the overdoses occurred on the New Haven Green, a large downtown park. New Haven Fire Chief John Alston said a series of overdoses occurred in New Haven Green on August 15, 2018.
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