November 18, 2016
Philadelphia police are investigating after about 50 people reportedly overdosed on heroin in the city's East Division on Thursday, NBC10 reported Friday.
Officials believe a "bad batch" of the opiate may be responsible for the overdoses, though that has not been confirmed, and no deaths from the incidents have been reported. Some of the overdose victims had to be treated with heroin antidote naloxone.
Police are conducting lab tests to determine the cause of the problem that reportedly originated in the city's Kensington and North Philadelphia neighborhoods, according to the news station.
Officer Christine O'Brien, a Philadelphia police spokesperson, said she couldn't confirm the number of people who had overdosed, but she did say that there had been a higher than usual number of hospitalizations do to due drugs on Thursday.
O'Brien said officials were "actively working" to get more details that will be released later.
"They're still trying to get actual information," she said.
