BARRE, Vt. – Police say there were nine heroin overdoses in the Vermont town of Barre over the weekend, including one fatality, a 43-year-old woman.

On Monday, the Health Department warned drug users about an especially dangerous strain of heroin that caused 10 overdoses over the weekend. The heroin is believed to be laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 times stronger than heroin.

Nine of those cases were in Barre, a town of about 9,200 that saw four overdoses in July. The other weekend overdose was in Newport.

Barre Police Chief Tim Bombardier says he suspects the heroin involved in the overdoses in his town was laced with Fentanyl. Bombardier says he believes there may be unreported overdoses.

The overdose victims who survived were treated with the antidote naloxone.


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