[ad_1]
CHATHAM COUNTY, GA (WTOC) – New data shows many people have died from opioid-related overdoses so far this year in Chatham County, as they have for all of 2020. Officials say that the drug cartels take advantage of the current border crisis, and the flood of drugs in the United States
It’s fentanyl, a drug that affects law enforcement at two different agencies in Chatham County. Authorities say recent drug seizures have helped slow the flow of fentanyl into our community. But not after a peak in deaths.
It’s what kills everyone, said Michael Sarhatt, director of Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics. The fentanyl in heroin.
Sarhatt told OMCC that in two recent raids his agency seized about half a dozen kilograms of fentanyl. There are 1000 grams in a kilogram and 1000 milligrams in 1 gram.
A soft, low pack is 1 gram, Sarhatt said. It takes 2-3 milligrams to kill someone.
New figures from CNT show Chatham County has already matched last year’s total overdose deaths. In 2020, 28 people died from suspected overdoses. As of June 9, 28 deaths had already been recorded.
Sarhatt blames the border crisis.
Most of the drugs that enter this country pass through the southern border. And, when they open that border, the cartels take this stuff across the border.
In the past six months alone, soldiers in Texas have seized nearly 60 pounds of fentanyl at the US-Mexico border. Fentanyl seizures have increased 800% in Texas this year. Sarhatt says the border is just one stop outside of Savannah.
Atlanta is one of the few cities in the country where every Mexican cartel is established.
The sight of an overdose may seem hopeless to some, but law enforcement is monitoring overdoses in Chatham County and using that data to identify the source of the deadly drugs. It is a system called OD Map.
Major Robert Gavin of the Savannah Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division said it was something the department started doing about four years ago.
In 2017, we accepted a federal grant that involved us in OD Maps, said Major Gavin.
Below is a recent snapshot of the Savannahs OD map. Each symbol on your screen represents a suspected overdose. Each diamond represents a deceased person.
An overview of suspected overdoses in Chatham County. (WTOC)
Major Gavin said it was getting harder and harder to save people.
Because fentanyl is so powerful, it takes 3-4 doses of NARCAN to get someone out of an overdose, he said. For reference, the Savannah cops always carry a dose of NARCAN with them.
According to Sarhatt, fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin. He said drug dealers use it because it’s cheap. He added that young athletes are at high risk of becoming addicted to opioids and parents need to be on high alert even if the drug is prescribed by a doctor.
Savannah Police added that it was not only used in heroin; they are also found in marijuana and in pills, like Oxycontin. Gavin said it was so dangerous that their officers had to use special equipment to handle it. As of June 17, Chatham emergency services had responded to 454 overdose calls since January 1, 2021. That averages over 80 overdose calls per month, or more than two per day.
Copyright 2021 OMCC. All rights reserved.
[ad_2]
picture credit