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Marijuana laced with fentanyl: Police warn of another potentially deadly drug mixture

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Law enforcement agencies across Northeast Ohio have been warned of another potentially deadly drug mixture. This time, it’s fentanyl-laced marijuana.

“We’ve encountered a couple of false alarms,” said Dave Frisone, Director of Lake County Narcotics Agency. “But we are aware that there is a potential.”

So far, there have been no reports of the dangerous mixture in our area. But, Sgt. Patrick Greenhill with the Berea Police Department’s Safe Passages Program, said he wants people to know about the potential for the dangerous mixture before it is too late.

“Someone thinks by using marijuana it’s a recreational drug, they have no idea it could be laced with fentanyl and kill them after the very first time they tried it,” said Greenhill

Last year, in Cuyahoga County, 666 people died from overdoses of heroin, fentanyl or a combination of both.

Published by the news5cleveland.com

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Columbus woman charged with dumping body in western Franklin County

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Franklin County Sheriff’s detectives arrested a woman Thursday they say is responsible for dumping the dead body of a woman overdose victim a day earlier in Franklin Township.

Erica Renee Escuadra, 37, of the Far West Side, is charged with abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence, said Marc Gofstein, a spokesman with the sheriff’s office.

The body of Jacqueline Powers, 45, was discovered with a blanket over it at 1:42 p.m. Wednesday off the north side of Big Run Road near the intersection of Gantz Road in western Franklin County. Powers’ last known address was in Pickerington. [Read more…]

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Chief deputy: Treatment, not arrest, best prescription for addiction

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Every day, Sgt. Shawn Pak saw the damage heroin and opioids cause in his job at the Franklin County jail. And the deputy with the county sheriff’s office believed addicts were responsible for their own misery.

“It was kind of businesslike, kind of a detached view,” Pak said.

That view changed, though, when the brother of Pak’s best friend became addicted to heroin, bringing to his family the pain and helplessness so many other families have suffered.

Pak changed his attitude after “seeing the pain in my best friend’s eyes” when he told Pak about the horror addiction imposed on his family. The family’s matriarch, who is like a second mother to Pak, is now terrified by the telephone.

“She told me, ‘Every time the phone rings, I’m expecting it be be the call that he’s dead,’” Pak said. [Read more…]

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Woman given six years in overdose death

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A South Side woman was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison for supplying the drugs that caused one death and one near-fatal overdose last year.

Paris L. Hatton, 31, who used to live in the 1100 block of Lilley Avenue, pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of corrupting another with drugs.

The sentence, imposed by Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Kim Brown, was recommended by prosecuting and defense attorneys as part of a plea agreement.

Lewis Jemison and Crystal Stumbo overdosed after purchasing what they thought was heroin from Hatton on Feb. 10, 2016, said Assistant Prosecutor Lizett Schreiber. [Read more…]

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3 dead in 2 days from suspected opioid overdoses in Lake County

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After a relatively calm start to spring, three people have died of suspected opiate overdoses in Lake County over the last 48 hours, Lake County Coroner Dr. Mark Komar said May 11.

“Suddenly, heroin has really smacked Lake County,” he said. “There is some powerful stuff out there. I have heard from the hospitals this week that up to 10 people were hospitalized for overdoses who did not die. Heroin slowed down in March, but it’s coming back with a vengeance. Instead of getting better and dying out like most epidemics do, this is getting worse.” [Read more…]

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Heroin: Your first time may be your last

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