Rash of Suspected Overdoses in Berkshires Claims At Least Two Lives

The Berkshire Eagle  reports  multiple people are dead this week in what one first responder calls the worst wave of overdoses in years.

"We definitely saw more activity this week than we had in a long time," said Brian Andrews, president of County Ambulance.

The ambulance service responded to at least 10 suspected overdoses since Sunday, Andrews said Friday, including nine in Pittsfield and one in Dalton. He said he suspects that the string of overdoses resulted in at least two deaths in Pittsfield, citing one case of cardiac arrest and a person who was dead upon first responders' arrival.

There also was a report of an apparent heroin overdose death this week from the town of Adams, said Dennis Yusko, a spokesman for the Berkshire District Attorney's Office. Department of Public Health statistics show that 40 people died last year from an opioid-related overdose in the Berkshires.