Antioch PD (Illinois) bodycam video of officers saving a fentanyl overdose victim
Instead of merely talking about the life-threatening dangers of the drug fentanyl, the Antioch, Illinois Police Department has decided to show an attempt to save the life of an overdose victim.
The link below is a police bodycam video that was posted on The Daily Herald newspaper website on August 26, 2022.
In the video, an injection of Naloxone (brand name Narcan) in the victim’s thigh is followed by rapid hand compressions at the center of the victim’s chest. In this case the victim survived.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.
Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Administrator Anne Milgram reports that drug traffickers are increasingly mixing fentanyl with other types of drugs – both powder and pill form – in an effort to drive addiction and to attract repeat buyers. It’s also being mixed with other illicit drugs to increase the potency and is being pressed into pills made to look like legitimate prescription opioids.
Because of its potency and relatively low cost, drug dealers have been mixing fentanyl with such other drugs as heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine, increasing the likelihood of a fatal interaction.
Drug trafficking organizations usually distribute fentanyl by the kilogram. One kilogram of fentanyl has the potential to kill 500,000 people.
It is possible for someone to take a pill without knowing whether it contains fentanyl. It is also possible to take a pill knowing that it contains fentanyl, but with no way of knowing if it contains a lethal dose.
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), 107,375 people in the U.S. died of drug overdoses and drug poisonings in the 12-month period ending in January 2022. A staggering 67 percent of those deaths involved synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Only two milligrams of fentanyl is considered a potentially lethal dose.
You may view the police bodycam video by clicking the link here.