Seven people were treated for overdose symptoms in the Penn North neighborhood of West Baltimore on Friday, just one week after 27 people in the same area were hospitalized due to a bad batch of drugs.
Around 9 a.m. Friday morning, emergency personnel responded to calls of people overdosing.
Five people were hospitalized and two refused transportation, according to Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace.
Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said the city will treat this incident and the one from last week as two separate investigations until there is evidence to link them.
Mayor Brandon Scott is pleading with residents who consume drugs to do so has safely as possible.
“For everyone in Baltimore, we understand that the supply across the city is very volatile right now,” he said during a press conference in Penn North. “I want everyone to hear me. Hear me very clearly. If you see someone who may be overdosing, help them.”
BPD is working to identify what was in the drug that caused the first overdose. Scott said the city will not be releasing information on that until the investigation concludes.
Meanwhile, the National Institute of Standards and Technology is also testing samples from that day.
One recently released panel of tests by NIST found N-Methylclonazepam in the sample. That sample has not been directly tied to the mass overdose incident yet.
N-Methylclonazepam is a benzodiazepine that operates similarly to Xanax or Valium, however, it is not approved for use. It’s been sold as a designer drug.
“It can cause a depressed level of consciousness and reduced respiratory drive,” said Dr. Gentry Wilkerson, an emergency medicine physician at the University of Maryland Medical Center. “When you have that drug working together with an opioid, then they're going to have a more profound effect on somebody.”