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07/16/2023 08:11 AMNorth Branford, East Haven Among Eight New Haven-area Towns Impacted
Staff Report
On its Facebook page on July 14, North Branford Police Department shared that the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) is reporting a spike in crack cocaine and cocaine-related overdoses in the city of New Haven and surrounding towns, including North Branford.
NBPD shared the towns impacted include Derby, East Haven, Hamden, Meriden, Milford, New Haven, North Branford, and West Haven.
“A greater than expected number of crack cocaine and cocaine-related overdoses, both fatal and non-fatal, has occurred over a two-week period, but especially during July 8 through July 10,” NBPD stated.
“Utilizing data collected from the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, there were 16 fatal drug overdoses in New Haven and surrounding towns outside New Haven between July 1 and July 11, which is an unusually high number of cases.”
As further shared by NBPD, 62.5% of the fatal overdose cases “...had suspected crack cocaine or cocaine, with the majority being suspected crack cocaine. The rest were suspected opioid or other substance-involved overdoses, and some were suspected to be polysubstance. This means there were more suspected stimulant overdoses than opioid overdoses during this period of time. This is not typical. Please bear this information in mind and share it with loved ones who may abuse these substances. The CT DPH, along with its local partners, are working closely together to monitor this trend.”