SANFORD, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — Police in York County responded to six overdoses in the same town in one weekend.
Sanford PD Chief Thomas Connolly said six people overdosed on opiates between Friday and Saturday nights and one of them died.
He said two others would have died too if they hadn't received a dose of Narcan when they did, and also said that more drug treatment resources are needed across the state.
Three of the overdoses occurred in the same apartment building within 24 hours of each other.
The chief thinks the powerful drug fetanyl was likely mixed in with the drugs these users were taking.
Fetanyl is a synthetic opiate that is much stronger than heroin.
Connolly said a sudden spike in overdoses like this one can indicate fentanyl because many people who use it unknowingly aren't used to how strong it is.
"That's how you know usually..something strange is going on..when you have a lot of people overdosing in a short period of time. That's a pretty good bellwether that's something's amiss in the drug community."
Police aren't sure where the person who initially sold these drugs to some of these users.
Because there was a fatality here, the person who sold them to the person who died could be prosecuted by the state attorney general's office.