In a 24-hour period over the weekend, three men in their 30s died from suspected drug overdoses in St. Tammany Parish. Coroner Dr. Charles Preston said while toxicology results will take a few weeks, investigators were able to field test one of the victim’s medication and it was positive for Fentanyl.
“But the clinical presentation is of a likely overdose death and the most likely agent is going to be Fentanyl or some congener of Fentanyl and that’s why I’m really concerned,” said Preston.
The victims were a 39-year-old man in Bush, a 34-year-old man in Pearl River, and a 37-year-old man in Slidell.
Preston said that while Louisiana is not immune to the Fentanyl problem the rest of the country is facing, he said it’s unusual to see a constellation.
“This close together of relatively young people in their 30s who were not opiate naïve to die from and ingest of most likely Fentanyl,” said Preston.
Preston said while he’s no expert on the importation and dissemination of illegal drugs, the likelihood is that the three overdoses were from a single source.
“This is not your granddaddy’s pot party anymore; Fentanyl is really one pill can kill. And now that’s not even a hypothetical because we’ve seen it. We’ve seen multiple cases where one ingestion results in a death,” said Preston.
Preston urges those with addiction issues to call 9-8-8 for resources and to find treatment. He also encourages drug users to have Narcan on hand because it can often reverse an opioid overdose.
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