July 20 – 21, 2018 Overdose Cluster

Between Friday and Saturday, at least 165 people around the city overdosed — an unprecedented number, health officials said, and thought to have been driven by the drug Freeman bought. Health officials believe it may have been heroin cut with an anticholinergic, a substance found in muscle relaxers and the antihistamine diphenhydramine (Benadryl) that causes dangerous side effects.

http://www.philly.com/philly/health/addiction/drug-overdose-toll-rises-in-philadelphia-as-heroin-prized-for-purity-turns-out-to-be-contaminated-20180724.html

By Aubrey Whelan