Fort Peck Indian Reservation sees first fatal heroin overdoses in recent memory, sheriff's office says
Kristen Brooke
Biotech | Senior Territory Manager of the Pacific Northwest | Precision Diagnostics | A leader in clinical laboratory testing
A rash of heroin overdoses in the past month in northeast Montana has law enforcement on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation worried.
The Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office has responded to two fatal overdoses and eight near-fatal overdoses in recent weeks and believes heroin — mixed with fentanyl — is responsible.
Sheriff’s deputies arrested a man for heroin possession in February, and on May 2 the office saw its first fatal heroin overdose in recent memory. Since then, law enforcement has seen a spike in 911 calls related to the drug.
Undersheriff John Summers said law enforcement in the rural northeast corner of the state has long dealt with meth, another substance that has alarmed officials in recent weeks.
But Summers says heroin is new to the area.
“(These are the) kind of problems we’ve never had to deal with as a small-time department,” he said.
via: Rick Tucker