Las Vegas police respond to 6 deadly overdoses in 36 hours

By Drew Andre

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    LAS VEGAS, Nevada (KVVU) — The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said Monday evening that officers responded to six overdose deaths in the last 36 hours. LVMPD said at least four of the overdoses were fentanyl-related.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid. According to the CDC, in 2020, more than 56,000 people in the US died from a synthetic opioid overdose.

Deaths involving opioids increased by over 56% from 2019 to 2020 and have continued to climb.

LVMPD released new body camera footage in a response to a possible overdose last month. Officers administered Narcan, the drug that reverses opioid overdoses, and saved three people’s lives, according to the department.

Police said the people unknowingly took fentanyl. The department previously told FOX5 they are seeing many cases like that.

“The party drugs, or Xanax or Percocet anything like that that the kids are just wanting to experiment,” LVMPD major violators narcotics crimes bureau Capt. Brandon Clarkson said. “What we are finding is these pills are laced with fentanyl, and just a little bit of fentanyl can kill you.”

In neighboring Arizona, Phoenix police recovered more than one million fentanyl pills and arrested two on Friday. It was the biggest seizure in the city’s history, according to the police department.

The Biden Administration announced last week it was providing $1.5 billion in federal funding to all states to address the opioid crisis.

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