After 12 fentanyl deaths in 2015, New Orleans sees 8 in one month

The Times-Picayune - New Orleans is seeing a dramatic rise in the number of fatal drug overdoses attributed to the synthetic opioid fentanyl, Orleans Parish Coroner Jeffrey Rouse said Wednesday (March 23). Of the 11 opiate-related deaths classified in January, eight of them showed the presence of the potent painkiller, which is commonly mixed with heroin and mimics its euphoric effects.

To put those numbers in perspective, just 12 people died in New Orleans of fentanyl overdoses in all of 2015. In 2014, Rouse said, only two people died with fentanyl in their system.