FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — In the days after a group of West Point cadets on spring break were sickened by fentanyl-laced cocaine at a South Florida house party, community activists sprang into action.
Highlights
- Community activists are warning spring breakers of a surge in recreational drugs being laced with the dangerous opioid fentanyl.
- Five West Point cadets on spring break were sickened by fentanyl-laced cocaine at a South Florida house party.
- Five cadets overdosed in Wilton Manors on March 10, just as thousands of college students were heading to Fort Lauderdale for spring break.
- Fentanyl and other synthetic drugs, which can be 50 to 100 times more potent than heroin or prescription opioids, are what make the overdoes so dangerous, said David Scharf, who oversees community programs for the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
- Broward County led the state in fentanyl deaths in 2020, Florida Medical Examiners Commission says.