The shocking overdoses of five women at a New Jersey mall this week are still being looked into by the police. The case is bringing attention to the fentanyl crisis in the Tri-State Area and across the country.
“They can’t trust anything they buy on the street. Right? Every pill they buy on the street that wasn’t given to them by a doctor could be a death sentence “said Jason Love, the head of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office’s detective division.
Five women who overdosed in a parking garage at the Shops at Riverside mall in Hackensack on Wednesday came very close to getting the death sentence. First responders gave them the drug Narcan, which saved their lives.
It is thought that the women took drugs that had fentanyl in them.
Nick Caloway from CBS2 talked to Love to find out how bad the problem really is.
“So what we’re doing is putting a Band-Aid on a wound that’s not healing,” Love said.
Love worked on drug cases for many years, but he says the fentanyl crisis in the United States right now is scary.
Last year, there were more than 700 overdoses in just Bergen County. Out of those 700, 125 were fatal, and fentanyl was used in almost all of those cases.
In 2015, fentanyl was added to 4% of the heroin sent to the state lab. That number jumped to 97% last year.
Not just heroin either.
“Fentanyl could be in any pill, powder, or other substance they buy on the street,” Love said.
One of the women who overdosed at the mall on Wednesday night is still in the hospital. Police say this is another sign that they are losing the fight against fentanyl.
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