By GAYLA CAWLEY
LYNN — Essex County was hit hard by the heroin epidemic over the weekend, with seven fatal apparent overdoses reported, nearly half of its 16 fatalities in January.
In Lynn and Peabody, the fatalities from Friday morning to Sunday morning outpaced their numbers in January.
Three people died from apparent heroin overdoses in Lynn during that time span, while two fatalities were reported last month, according to Carrie Kimball Monahan, spokeswoman for the Essex County District Attorney’s office.
In Peabody, two people died apparently from overdoses over the weekend, while there was one reported fatality last month, Monahan said.
Before the weekend, there was one death from an apparent overdose Feb. 1 when a 45-year-old man died in Methuen, Monahan said.
The first fatal apparent overdose Lynn Police responded to was on Andrew Street, where they found a 52-year-old woman. Monahan said her office got the call approximately 9 a.m. Friday.
With an unattended death, the Essex State Police Detective Unit, formerly known as the CPAC unit, assigned to the DA’s office, also responds, along with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
The CPAC unit responded to a second Lynn fatal overdose at 7:30 p.m. Saturday on Broad Street for a 49-year-old man. The third was Sunday at 6:13 a.m. on Lynn Shore Drive, where a 33-year-old man was found.
In Peabody, a 34-year-old woman died on Cashman Road at approximately 2 a.m. Friday, according to the DA’s office, and a 36-year-old man died from an apparent overdose around 10:20 a.m. Saturday on Brown Street.
There were also apparent overdose deaths in Lawrence and Haverhill, with each town reporting one each this weekend.
There were 16 fatal apparent overdoses reported in Essex County in January. Aside from the two in Lynn and one in Peabody, there were three in Salem, two each in Gloucester, Lawrence and Salisbury, and one apiece in Haverhill, Newburyport, Amesbury, and Saugus, according to the DA’s office.
Lynn Police reported their department’s response in a Facebook post on Sunday.
“We have had at least three fatal apparent heroin overdoses so far this weekend,” Lynn police said in a statement. “We believe there have also been at least 15 in the greater Boston area. Not using is best preventative care, but not using alone and having Narcan (the lifesaving overdose drug) available are the next best. If you have a phone, you’re not alone. Make a call.”
Lynn Police Lt. Christopher Kelly said the department has to wait for the medical examiner’s office to officially rule the cause of death. But from the preliminary investigation, the deaths can be ruled as possibly drug-related. He said on Sunday afternoon that the medical examiner’s office, which takes jurisdiction over the case, told the department that they had seen a large spike in the past 24 hours of possible opiate deaths.
“We’ve gone to a few medical calls that have been for deceased persons and during the investigation, the suspected use of opiate drugs was prevalent during some of these,” Kelly said. Kelly said the numbers are “alarming.” He said police, by posting on social media, wanted to get the word out to the public, particularly addicts and families of addicts, that overdoses typically come in waves, based on a particular batch of heroin, or what it’s being mixed with.
Particularly when the fentanyl, which is increasingly being mixed with heroin, is strong, the result is potentially fatal.
“Any time (there’s) illegal drug use, there’s always that risk of a fatal overdose,” Kelly said on Sunday. “Obviously, in the last 24 hours, that risk has spiked dramatically.”
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley.