10 hours, 15 overdoses in Akron, Ohio
In less than 10 hours, a northern Ohio city had at least 15 overdoses — one of them fatal, according to WEWS-TV in Cleveland.
The calls began at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Akron Police Lt. Rick Edwards told WEWS. By 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, at least 15 suspected heroin overdoses had been reported throughout the city.
Among those rushed to the hospital were a woman and her two daughters, who were found unconscious with a fourth person around 3:30 p.m.
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A 44-year-old man died of a suspected overdose, the Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office told WEWS. An autopsy is set for Wednesday.
Police told the news station that 55 people have died from heroin overdoses in Akron in 2016. Summit County, where Akron sits, has seen an increase in opioid overdoses since 2012, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. Forty-four people died of heroin-related overdoses in 2012, compared to the 40 with the same cause of death between 2002 and 2008.
The series of overdoses comes as federal regulators announce they will increase the number of patients that doctors can treat with buprenorphine, or suboxone, the most common drug to treat opioid addiction. They also will announce Wednesday that they plan to push Congress to approve about $1 billion in funding to increase treatment options across the United States for the drug epidemic.
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