Overdoses in Elkhart spark worries, warnings about marijuana laced with fentanyl

Experts say the concoction has become more common in Michiana over the past few years as dealers are increasingly turning to the opioid as a cheap way to make street drugs more potent and addictive.

The seven calls, which happened between Sunday and Monday, included three suspected overdose deaths and one overdose-related car crash, according to Elkhart Police Department spokeswoman Jessica McBrier. 

“The number was certainly concerning to us,” McBrier said. “Obviously we don’t ever want to see that level.”  

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Elkhart Fire Department Capt. Grant Roberts said many overdose patients have told medics they thought they were only taking marijuana.

“Our biggest suspicion right now is [fentanyl] making its way into other illicit drugs that people aren’t aware of,” Roberts said. “The overdoses we’ve been talking to … some of them thought they were just doing marijuana or just doing cocaine. We still haven’t 100 percent narrowed it down, but it seems marijuana to be the most common factor.”