The number of overdoses and deaths from heroin this month continues to rise in Akron.
From midnight July 5 through Tuesday evening, there have been 141 heroin overdoses and 14 deaths from heroin in the city, according to Akron police.
“This is definitely an increase from what we’ve seen in the past couple years,” said Akron police spokesperson Lt. Rick Edwards on Wednesday.
There won’t be a full count of Wednesday’s overdoses until Thursday morning, but several were heard throughout the day over the police scanner.
On July 5 alone, the city saw 17 heroin overdoses and one death.
“That was the first day we realized something is going on,” Edwards said.
Summit County officials suspect the slew of overdoses since then has been caused, in part, by the mixing of heroin and carfentanil, a powerful animal anesthetic, which has been found in some syringes of those who died. Carfentanil is used to sedate large animals like elephants.
The number of overdoses have been somewhat inconsistent on a day-to-day basis, but overall, the number is “definitely on the rise,” Edwards said.