Minneapolis issued an alert last week after responding to “several overdoses” in less than 24 hours on Thursday, including three separate overdose deaths.
According to a press release, city personnel are responding to an average of eight overdoses every day. There were 55 drug overdoses in the first seven days of October, the city said.
In 2021, Minneapolis experienced 2,283 overdoses and 197 deaths. This year, there have been 2,113 overdoses and, as of early August, 108 deaths.
Crime Watch Minneapolis has been reporting for years on the prevalence of overdoses at Metro Transit light rail stations in the city.
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Overdose at the Metro Transit West Bank LRT station.
275 Cedar Ave
11:43— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) October 8, 2022
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Overdose at the Metro Transit Franklin LRT station.
1808 E Franklin Ave20:27
— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) October 8, 2022
Late last month, Bloomington police announced the seizure of 109,000 fentanyl pills, which they described as the largest fentanyl bust in the Midwest.
Minnesota recorded a record number of drug overdoses last year, with nearly four Minnesotans dying every day from an overdose. This mirrored national trends, which also hit a record high of 107,000 overdose deaths last year. Two-thirds of all deaths involved fentanyl or other synthetic opioids.
This article originally appeared at Alpha News.