Almost Two Dozen People Treated For Synthetic Drug Overdoses in St. Louis

Almost two dozen people were treated for synthetic drug overdoses in downtown St. Louis on Monday and Tuesday, KTVI reports. Most of the overdoses were linked to K2.

“One of the challenges in treating these overdoses with the synthetic is first of all, the Narcan we use on regular heroin or opioid-based drugs does not work,” St. Louis Fire Department Captain Garon Mosby said. He noted many of the overdose victims were homeless.

“One of the challenges for our medics upon arriving is determining that what they are treating is indeed a synthetic overdose,” he noted. “A lot of times the patient will have a seizure. We respond to seizures, but it could be induced by this synthetic drug. We’re treating higher body temperatures, hyperthermia is very common. And the patients seem to be very combative.”