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Police are warning the public after three teenagers overdosed in Antioch this past weekend. Authorities also released a bodycam video showing officers reviving a man who overdosed.
The Antioch Police Department said that in light of last Sunday being National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day, residents should be aware of the ongoing opioid dangers.
Antioch Police Chief Geoffrey Guttschow said parents should also be aware of the alarming increase in drug overdoses involving opioids laced with fentanyl.
The uptick in overdoses mirrors a growing problem locally, regionally and nationally.
The police department released bodycam video showing their officers responding to a home in Antioch on January 27 and administering CPR and Narcan to a man who had overdosed.
The most recent instances of overdoses in Antioch happened over the weekend.
Three teenagers — a male and two females — were treated at area hospitals for separate instances of overdosing, the police department said.
One of the overdose victims was saved when an acquaintance administered the opioid antagonist Narcan.
Antioch police say they have responded to 17 reports of overdose victims since the beginning of the year.
Of the 17 overdose calls, three of the victims died.
Guttschow said most of the fourteen victims who lived were saved because a first responder administered Narcan.
Most police departments now carry Narcan, which rapidly reverses an opioid overdose.
Guttschow said that time is critical in the administration of Narcan.
“The quicker the response by first responders, the better chance of saving a life,” Guttschow said.
“That’s why our officers carry Narcan, and every shift commander carries multiple doses,” he added.
Criminal drug networks are mass-producing counterfeit pills that look identical to common prescription and over-the-counter drugs, Guttschow said.
These fake pills have increasingly become more deadly.
“These pills are falsely passed off as legitimate and are being sold online, via common social media platforms,” the police chief said.
“The criminals who manufacture these drugs include fentanyl to make the drugs cheaper to make, which also makes the pills more deadly. It doesn’t take much fentanyl to kill someone. As a department, we are working hard to educate our community about these dangers. We’re also warning the drug dealers that we’re coming after them,” Guttschow said.
Through social media and other community outreach, the Antioch Police Department said they are working to educate parents and community members about the growing dangers of illicit opioids and other drugs.