Eight ambulances and six fire trucks were on scene.
Chico Fire Department Division Chief Jesse Alexander later told local news outlet KHSL-TV that it was the largest mass casualty incident he had seen in years.
First responders administered naloxone, colloquially known as the “anti-overdose drug.”
At one point Alexander describes six individuals simultaneously undergoing CPR from first responders.
In total, 14 people were hospitalized, several in critical condition, and one was dead.
The likely culprit? Fentanyl.
The synthetic opioid, 100 times more powerful than morphine, and its analogues have become the most prominent driving factor in death rates in the United States related to opioid overdose.
In 2017, 47,000 people died from opioid-related deaths in the United States — rivaling the number of deaths from the peak of the AIDS crisis in 1995.
A new study published this month concludes that Americans are now more likely to die from an opioid overdose than from a car accident.
While life expectancy continues to grow in other developed countries, it’s actually declining in the United States, with drug overdose one of the main factors.
There’s no sign of the opioid crisis in the United States abating. And with no end in sight, perhaps a radical shift in policy needs to take place.
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