Few New Details In Suspected Overdose Deaths
November 29, 2018
Isaac Estes-Jones
Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader was unable to release more information on the suspected overdose deaths of three people in Stone County last weekend. At this time, it is unclear what exactly caused all three people to overdose and die from the drugs.
“While our investigation is ongoing, I can’t really release anything more,” Rader said.
On Saturday, November 17, Stone County Sheriff’s Deputies found three individuals dead in a car parked in front of an abandoned trailer off of Norwood Road in southern Stone County.
After the Stone County Coroner took possession of the bodies, they were identified as Joseph Johnson, 35, of Green Forest, Ark., Daniel Calvert, 32, also of Green Forest, Ark., and Julie Orman, 26, of Shell Knob. Sheriff Rader said, of the three, “the female subject was known to us, but the two males were not.”
According to a release from the Sheriff’s Office, all three are suspected to have died from a drug overdose, based on items located in the vehicle.
Rader was unable to speculate as to whether these deaths were caused by a bad batch of an illegal substance, or whether the drugs had been tampered with or altered in some way. Across the nation, there have been reports of individuals dying after being exposed to opioid drugs that were “cut” with a much stronger opioid, such as fentanyl.
A recent report on drug deaths in the St. Louis area, from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, indicated that fentanyl is “now involved in nearly all the drug overdoses in the St. Louis area.” Reports indicate that the synthetic opioid has been mixed with drugs ranging from other opioids to cocaine.
Marietta Hagan, with the Stone and Taney County Substance Use Initiative, said, “It is concerning that three people overdosed at the same time. Because we don’t know yet what specific drug was involved, it’s hard to say what we could do to help prevent this tragic loss of life.”
At the end of August and beginning of September, according to Hagan, there were several more overdose incidents in Taney County than normal. “There were 3 deaths and non-fatal overdoses in the double digits over that two to three week period,” Hagan said.
Opioid use is a primary focus of the Initiative, but at this point it is unclear whether opioids were involved in the November 17 deaths or not.
Regardless of the cause of the deaths, one of the harm reduction techniques the Initiative emphasizes is staggering usage if in a group. “We want people who are going to use to use safely. If they are in a group, they should stagger their use by at least 15 minutes to make sure that nobody is overdosing,” Hagan said.
Another option is to have someone act like a designated driver. “With those three people that passed away, if someone is able to be the person that abstains or is able to be there for the other two, maybe all of those people wouldn’t have died,” Hagan said.
The Crane Chronicle/Stone County Republican will continue to cover this story as more details are released in the coming weeks.
An interactive map of community resources is available at www.drugfreeozarks.org, along with other information about drug use and important stories from the area.
**Hagan quote about overdoses in Taney Co. edited for clarity, 11/30/18**
Isaac Estes-Jones
Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader was unable to release more information on the suspected overdose deaths of three people in Stone County last weekend. At this time, it is unclear what exactly caused all three people to overdose and die from the drugs.
“While our investigation is ongoing, I can’t really release anything more,” Rader said.
On Saturday, November 17, Stone County Sheriff’s Deputies found three individuals dead in a car parked in front of an abandoned trailer off of Norwood Road in southern Stone County.
After the Stone County Coroner took possession of the bodies, they were identified as Joseph Johnson, 35, of Green Forest, Ark., Daniel Calvert, 32, also of Green Forest, Ark., and Julie Orman, 26, of Shell Knob. Sheriff Rader said, of the three, “the female subject was known to us, but the two males were not.”
According to a release from the Sheriff’s Office, all three are suspected to have died from a drug overdose, based on items located in the vehicle.
Rader was unable to speculate as to whether these deaths were caused by a bad batch of an illegal substance, or whether the drugs had been tampered with or altered in some way. Across the nation, there have been reports of individuals dying after being exposed to opioid drugs that were “cut” with a much stronger opioid, such as fentanyl.
A recent report on drug deaths in the St. Louis area, from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, indicated that fentanyl is “now involved in nearly all the drug overdoses in the St. Louis area.” Reports indicate that the synthetic opioid has been mixed with drugs ranging from other opioids to cocaine.
Marietta Hagan, with the Stone and Taney County Substance Use Initiative, said, “It is concerning that three people overdosed at the same time. Because we don’t know yet what specific drug was involved, it’s hard to say what we could do to help prevent this tragic loss of life.”
At the end of August and beginning of September, according to Hagan, there were several more overdose incidents in Taney County than normal. “There were 3 deaths and non-fatal overdoses in the double digits over that two to three week period,” Hagan said.
Opioid use is a primary focus of the Initiative, but at this point it is unclear whether opioids were involved in the November 17 deaths or not.
Regardless of the cause of the deaths, one of the harm reduction techniques the Initiative emphasizes is staggering usage if in a group. “We want people who are going to use to use safely. If they are in a group, they should stagger their use by at least 15 minutes to make sure that nobody is overdosing,” Hagan said.
Another option is to have someone act like a designated driver. “With those three people that passed away, if someone is able to be the person that abstains or is able to be there for the other two, maybe all of those people wouldn’t have died,” Hagan said.
The Crane Chronicle/Stone County Republican will continue to cover this story as more details are released in the coming weeks.
An interactive map of community resources is available at www.drugfreeozarks.org, along with other information about drug use and important stories from the area.
**Hagan quote about overdoses in Taney Co. edited for clarity, 11/30/18**