January 8, 2020 3:55 a.m. 
Following a public health alert regarding opioid overdoses issued by the Douglas Public Health Network on Tuesday, the head of the Douglas Interagency Narcotics Team said that agency is investigating the spike as well.
Lieutenant Rick McArthur told News Radio 1240 KQEN that DINT is “working diligently” to find the reasons behind the large number of recent overdoses.
McArthur said DINT has been warning people of the coming problems of fentanyl being mixed with heroin, and in some cases completely replacing heroin as the drug of choice. McArthur said while he does not yet know if the recent spike is due to fentanyl, he does caution users to be extremely careful.
McArthur said illicit opioid users are in constant danger of overdose to begin with, due to the nature of the addiction. Heroin is particularly dangerous because users often do not know the potency of their dose, or the other drugs that may be mixed in, such as fentanyl, according to McArthur.
McArthur said another trend to be concerned with is the onslaught of counterfeit prescription pills. He said illicit opioid users often will use any kind of opioid they can obtain, including oxycodone pills. McArthur said a recent trend in the drug community has been for high level drug dealers to formulate counterfeit oxycodone pills that actually contain fentanyl instead of oxycodone. Most users know they are taking counterfeit “oxys” but they may not know the dangers associated with them, according to McArthur.
McArthur said DINT will continue to investigate and aggressively pursue those who traffic illicit controlled substances that “do so much damage to our community”.
Christin Rutledge, Program Manager for Douglas Public Health told KQEN that to put the current spike in perspective, in 2019 there were eleven total overdose deaths from all drugs in Douglas County, with only five of those related to opioids. In contrast, one week in to the new year, there have been two deaths related to opioids, with one of those confirmed to be from heroin. Rutledge said there have also been nine confirmed overdoses which have been non-fatal since 2020 began.