Paramedics in Akron are busier than ever, dealing with a heroin epidemic that's resulted in more than 200 overdoses in less than a month.
In the three weeks between July 5 and July 26, there were a total of 236, according to our media partners at the Akron Beacon Journal.
That's nearly a dozen per day.
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Just overnight from Tuesday into Wednesday there were four more.
So far, 64 of the overdoses have turned fatal.
Officials say the uptick could be caused by the introduction of a new drug—carfentanil.
Carfentanil is an extremely powerful drug used to sedate elephants, rhinoceroses and zebras. It is 10,000 times more potent than morphine and has been linked to more than one fatal overdose in the region.
