The coroner in St. Tammany Parish is very concerned with escalating fentanyl overdose deaths; especially because people may not even know that is what they are ingesting. Dr. Charles Preston says pills bought and sold on the street may look like semi-harmless pain relievers, but many contain highly dangerous fentanyl. He says the recent death of a 22-year-old man after taking a single capsule is cause for alarm. Preston says, “the fact that one pill killed an adult male was very concerning. They were adulterated counterfeit pills, with lethal doses of fentanyl in the community.”
Preston confirms that man died from an overdose of fentanyl and, though the pill he took appeared to be Percocet, it was 100-percent illegally made fentanyl.
“Because this was an unusual event, I elected to try and sound the alarm to the public that these lethal counterfeit pills were in our community.”
In mid-July a St. Tammany Parish 15-year-old also died from a fentanyl overdose. Two people have been arrested in connection and charged with murder. Dr. Preston says the fentanyl scourge is growing like a weed.
“In 2019, we had 67 opioid overdoses and 46 were fentanyl. In 2021, we had 132 and 115 were fentanyl.”
Preston urges everyone, “if it didn’t come from a pharmacy, do not put it in your mouth.”
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