San Diego

2 Hospitalized After Fentanyl Overdose

The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department's HAZMAT team was called to test the potency of the substance found at the scene

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Two men were transported to UC San Diego Medical Center after overdosing on narcotics in San Diego's Stockton neighborhood on Thursday evening, police said.

San Diego Police arrived at around 6:12 p.m. to the 3000 block of Island Avenue, one block east of Kimbrough Elementary School, just north of Logan Heights.

Residents of the area noticed two unconscious men lying next to a parked vehicle with "lines of possible narcotics" on the vehicle's hood, according to SDPD Lt. Erwin Manansala.

The residents began CPR on the men until paramedics arrived and were able to revive them using naloxone, commonly recognized as Narcan, an antidote that can combat the effects of drug overdoses.

Out of an abundance of caution, and due to the behavior displayed by the victims, responding officers believed the narcotics that had been ingested were fentanyl. The officers quarantined the area and waited for SDFD's Hazardous Materials (HAZMAT) team to decontaminate the area.

Fire crews and officers had quarantined the area for about an hour and a half until they were able to confirm there would be no ongoing threat to residents of the area.

The US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) says fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 80-100 times stronger than morphine. Many users believe that they are purchasing heroin and actually don’t know that they are purchasing fentanyl – which often results in overdose deaths.

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