WILMINGTON — The Wilmington Police Department responded to nine heroin overdoses on Monday. This is an unusually high number, prompting the Police Department to alert heroin users in the area so that they can seek treatment.
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A spike this sharp indicates there may be a bad batch of heroin being exchanged in the Port City, according to Police Spokeswoman Linda Rawley Thompson.
“We certainly do believe that it may have something to do with a bad batch,” she said.
The Police Department believes that even regular users of heroin are at great risk of death.
Chief of Police Ralph Evangelous encourages those with substance abuse issues to seek help.
So far in 2017, the Wilmington Police Department has treated 527 heroin overdoses, that’s up 12 percent from last year.
So far, 32 of those overdoses resulted in death in 2017, compared to 51 deaths in 2016.
Thompson credited the use of Narcan by local officers as the reason for the decline in overdose deaths.
