Expert: Fentanyl has contributed to Trumbull OD deaths

WARREN — A top narcotics investigator says the most recent statistics from the Trumbull County Coroner’s office back up his theory that the arrival of the prescription drug fentanyl on the menu of local drug addicts has contributed to the spike in Trumbull overdose deaths.

The stats indicate 14 of the 35 people who died from drug overdoses from Jan. 1 to April 20 died either from fentanyl or heroin mixed with fentanyl.

The problem was especially acute in early April, when Jeff Orr, commander of the Trumbull Ashtabula Group Law Enforcement Task Force, sounded the alarm after a week in which six people died in Trumbull County of overdoses. Four had fentanyl mixed with heroin or other drugs.

Orr said he suspects when someone dies of fentanyl, it’s because they were misled by their dealer into thinking it’s something else.

Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk, county coroner, said the appearance of fentanyl started out slowly in January, with just one death case, then grew to two in February and reached seven in April.

For the complete story, read Wednesday's Vindicator and Vindy.com