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Berks DA issues public health advisory after 70 overdoses in 1 weekend

Reading Eagle - 9/13/2021

Sep. 13—Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams issued a public health alert Monday in the wake of a weekend that saw about six dozen overdose patients treated in local hospitals after they ingested a powerful drug cocktail that included a tranquilizer used by veterinarians to sedate horses.

Reading Hospital and Penn State Health St. Joseph reported treating about 70 overdose victims during the weekend. The overdoses occurred in Reading and West Reading, authorities said.

Acting Berks County Coroner Jonn M. Hollenbach reported there was one overdose death over the weekend.

According to preliminary toxicology reports from medical personnel, the substances involved are heroin and xylazine, a drug used by veterinarians, primarily on horses. It causes heavy sedation and is known on the street as "tranq" or "sleep cut."

Drug overdoses are often linked to a mixture of many different drugs.

In the past year the most common drugs have been, heroin, fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine. The use of xylazine in the United States has steadily increased since 2015, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

Detectives from West Reading, Reading and the district attorney's office are investigating the incidents. The common denominator in the overdose investigations is that the substances are in blue glassine packets.

If anyone has any information that may assist the detectives with the investigations and prevent

the possibility of others consuming the poison, contact the departments individually through the Berks County Communications Center, or contact Crime Alert Berks at 877-373-9913 or at crimealertberks.org.

Tipsters can text a tip at 84741, starting the message with the word ALERTBERKS then the tip.

"We, as law enforcement, are combating this epidemic that has plagued our community with

every resource available to us," Adams said in a press release. " However, we also need your help. It is critical that the community remain vigilant and check on family and friends who may be using these dangerous drugs."

Later Monday, Reading police weighed in with a statement on the weekend overdoses:

"(... responded to approximately 34 overdose incidents in the City of Reading. One of the suspected overdose incidents involved a patient that was transported to Reading Hospital on September 11th and subsequently died on September 12th. That incident is currently being investigated to determine if it is related to the series of overdoses. Patrol Division supervisors recognized the trend of these incidents and alerted Vice Investigators, who immediately initiated an investigation into the overdoses."

It's the second time two years that Adams has issued an advisory after a mass overdose event to warn those addicted to street drugs about a dangerous substance circulating in the community.

On Dec. 9, 2019, Adams issued a community advisory in the wake of a weekend that saw a dozen overdoses — three of them fatal — in and near Berks County. Five of the overdoses occurred in a single incident in West Reading.

Borough police officers administered a dose of the nasal spray naloxone, which reverses the effects of opioids, to revive the five victims, all young men, who had ingested the drug in a car.

A Sinking Spring man was later charged with causing the death of a man who was found unresponsive in his residence just over Berks line in Millcreek Township, Lebanon County, on Dec. 7, 2019 — the same night as the West Reading overdoses.

Berks detectives determined the victim bought a quality of cocaine mixed with fentanyl earlier that day after meeting the defendant in Sinking Spring.

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