MADISON, Ind. — A recent uptick in fatal overdoses in Madison, Indiana has officials and community members concerned.
According to Madison Chief of Police, John Wallace, there have been eight overdoses since September 4th; four of those eight have ended in death.
Lauren Ashby's son Johnathon died this past Sunday after overdosing on what Ashby was told was oxycodone laced with fentanyl. He was found early Sunday evening in his bed, and despite life-saving measures being taken he passed away.
"Multiple times on the paddles and the Narcan but nothing worked. He was already gone," said his mother.
Community members are concerned, continuously posting on the Facebook Group "Madison Indiana News," asking what local officials are going to do to stop the laced drugs from entering the community.
"We are not even positive he knew what he was taking, whether he knew it was laced with fentanyl or not. We don't know," said Ashby.
Chief Wallace told WHAS11's Elle Smith the uptick in overdoses is caused by multiple things, such as, "normal stresses of life, coming out of the pandemic and the availability of the drugs."
Wallace said his department has made 115 narcotics-related arrests thus far in 2021. He said he recognized the department couldn't arrest their way out of this. He said the first thing is getting the word out about laced drugs in the community
"You may go out and buy something that you think is ok but unfortunately you don't find out until it's too late that what you are taking is laced with fentanyl," he said.
Secondly, he said the department needs to do a better job of getting into the schools and educating younger people on the dangers of drugs as a whole.
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