Police arrested a man and pregnant woman in Wisconsin for allegedly purchasing and snorting heroin together while in a vehicle with their three-year-old son.
Authorities in West Allis, Wis., found an “unresponsive” and “sweaty” man they suspected was suffering a heroin overdose. Officers said the woman, who is eight months pregnant, showed signs indicating she also used the drug. Police successfully stabilized the man with an injection of the overdose reversal drug Narcan, reports FOX 6.
The incident occurred sometime in April during the afternoon. Charges are still pending while the state district attorney reviews the case, meaning authorities cannot yet release the identities of the offenders.
Authorities say the unidentified woman used her cellphone to arrange for the purchase of $20 worth of heroin. The couple then allegedly snorted the heroin in their car while their three-year-old son sat in the backseat. Police initially arrested the woman for supplying the heroin and the man for operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
Heroin overdoses killed 281 people in Wisconsin in 2015, and much of the spike in fatalities is attributed to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine. Fentanyl is having a particularly devastating effect in Milwaukee. There were 71 fentanyl deaths in 2016, up from 30 in 2015.
A record 33,000 Americans died from opioid related overdoses in 2015, according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. Opioid deaths contributed to the first drop in U.S. life expectancy since 1993 and eclipsed deaths from motor vehicle accidents in 2015. Combined, heroin, fentanyl and other opiate-based painkillers account for roughly 63 percent of drug fatalities, which claimed 52,404 lives in the U.S. in 2015.
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