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'Playing Russian roulette' with fentanyl-heroin mixture killed five in 24 hours in southwest Ohio

Posted at 8:03 PM, Jan 23, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-24 10:21:30-05

An Ohio coroner sent out a warning after five people were found dead from drug overdoses in one day's time.

 "This is a dangerous, dangerous drug," Butler County's Dr. Lisa Mannix said Monday. "It's like playing Russian roulette with drugs. You don't know what you're going to get and it can and will kill you."

Unfortunately, the warning about a fatal fentanyl-heroin mixture came too late for the five people found dead in Butler County in the span of just 24 hours between Jan. 19 and 20.

Mannix says Butler County's proximity to the heavy drug trafficking along the I-75 corridor is one concern for officials trying to prevent drug deaths. Another issue is the dangerous mixture of fentanyl and carfentanil that addicts risk to reach a higher high.

"People don't know what's in the product and it may not be the same from one use to the next," Mannix said.

In 2012, the coroner's office reported an average of three deadly drug overdoses a month. That number of deadly O.D's has nearly tripled in 2016.