The frequency of drug overdoses in the Coos Bay area has seemingly doubled from last year, according to the Coos Bay Police Department.
Coos Bay police say that on the afternoon of Monday, June 20, they and the Coos Bay Fire Department responded to three separate reports of drug overdoses. Officials say that one of those cases was fatal. Officials strongly suspect that all of the overdoses were caused by fentanyl.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is orders of magnitude stronger than heroin and morphine. Using or being exposed to even tiny amounts can result in a fatal overdose. The CBPD reports that the frequency of drug overdoses seen by local first responders seems to have doubled from last year. The Coos Bay Fire Department said that they administered Naloxone, a medicine than can stop an opioid overdose, 25 times so far in 2022. They said that in 2021, first responders administered Naloxone only 29 times.