COLUMBUS – A man has been arrested in connection with a rash of opiate overdoses on the East Side, two of which proved fatal.
Rayshon Alexander, 36, was arrested Monday afternoon by Columbus SWAT and narcotics officers and charged with corrupting another with drugs, a first-degree felony, because he allegedly sold drugs close to a school, according to a post on the Division of Police Facebook page.
Police and fire officials became alarmed when a number of cases of conscious and unconscious overdoses were reported from a small area on the city’s East Side, division spokesman Sgt. Rich Weiner said.
Ten people were treated and two died at eight locations between 1:30 and 10:30 p.m. Sunday, according to the Facebook post.
The spike in drug overdoses in Akron drew renewed attention to what authorities describe as a growing epidemic of abuse of heroin and a more potent painkiller, fentanyl.
Ohio had roughly 500 fentanyl-related overdose deaths in 2014.
Columbus officials are advising heroin users that there could be “highly potent and dangerous units circulating” in the area and anyone in possession of heroin should destroy it immediately.