TOLEDO, Ohio — Toledo police are currently investigating 26 drug overdose deaths since October, 11 of which happened this month.
However, officers say those numbers aren't as alarming as the findings coming back from toxicology reports.
Officials with both TPD and the Lucas County Drug Abuse Response Team (D.A.R.T.) say the number of overdose deaths this year is similar to 2020. What has changed, is the kind of drugs that officers are finding on the streets.
"It is a scary situation out there. I feel like these people, most of the time, it's like playing Russian Roulette, you don't know what drug is here right now," TPD Sergeant William Bragg said.
Bragg said almost every one of their investigations involves fentanyl and many of the people who are addicted could be only one high away from using the drug without even knowing.
"Now, recently we've been seeing a lot of fentanyl/methamphetamine mixtures that are coming in. It's a lot of them. I'd say 80-90% of the ones we just got in had some sort of mixture of methamphetamine. Now, it's methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine, so we're getting a good mixture," he said.
Officers with Lucas County D.A.R.T. say fentanyl is much more potent than drugs like heroin or cocaine, making users more susceptible to overdosing and possibly dying.
"It doesn't take much. It's usually always mixed with cocaine, heroin or pure fentanyl. We've had individuals state to us that they're just injecting or snorting pure fentanyl," Lieutenant Steve Rogers said.
Officers say many of these people don't know what they're using and it makes cases much harder to solve.
"Honestly, and sorrowfully, I have not seen great resolution to these," Bragg said.
More recently, Bragg and his team have started to see a new drug emerge that's a thousand times more potent than heroin.
But, officers and Lucas County DART say there are ways to help and it starts with breaking the stigma around using drugs.
"It has a ripple effect to the entire community. Rather than continue to stigmatize addiction and the community's idea on what it looks like, we should be more open to other options rather than always the incarceration route," Rogers said.
People can get fentanyl test strips through the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department. However, the department notes on its website, "while it is advisable to test street drugs for fentanyl, there are no well researched, established recommendations on how to test drugs with the test strips we provide."
To learn more about D.A.R.T., click here.