Editor’s note: This story by Harmony Birch first appeared in the Brattleboro Reformer on July 6.
[B]RATTLEBORO — Emergency personnel from the Brattleboro Police Department, the Brattleboro Fire Department and Rescue Inc. spent their Fourth of July responding to eight drug overdose calls.
Seven of the overdoses were confirmed as heroin overdoses. On Wednesday morning there was another overdose. All of the victims survived, though some were flown to hospitals and are in critical condition.
Captain Mark Carignan said there were, “some consistencies in the scenes.” Bags of heroin with the same brand stamp were found with seven of the confirmed overdoses.
Carignan said that drugs are marketed in a similar way as legal products. Materials usually come from Afghanistan, are processed in Mexico or Canada and then packaged in the United States. During the packaging process, dealers put “stamps” on their bags.
The stamps range from Mickey Mouse to hand grenades. During the election, there was even a “Trump” brand with a picture of Donald Trump’s face. The police department declined to give details about the iconography for the heroin that led to overdoses last weekend.
The police department is investigating where the heroin came from. Officials say they don’t know if the heroin is laced with other, more potent, ingredients.
Carignan said the timing of the overdoses was coincidence. “There’s no indication that it had anything to do with the holiday,” he said.
Warning signs of an overdose include being passed out and having shallow breathing or a bluish skin coloring. If you witness someone having an overdose, the best thing to do, Carignan says, is to call 9-1-1. Sometimes, he said, people delay calling so that they can clean up the scene.
“In those situations our concern isn’t arresting people,” Carignan said. He also emphasized that Vermont has a Good Samaritan law. The law, passed in 2013, protects both victims and witnesses from drug, violation probation and restraining order charges when calling 9-1-1.
Carignan encouraged loved ones of addicts to “support them in treatment.” He said that it’s been shown that ostracizing addicts is ineffective. “Alienating them drives them deeper into their addiction,” he said.
/
