Cocaine was mixed with fentanyl. Currently, 6 people are dying from overdose.

Southold, NY — 911 calls to Southold Town Police began on Wednesday. And for three days they didn’t stop.

Female, 34 years old, Greenport Village, unresponsive.

Male, 25 years old, South Sold, no reaction.

Male, 30 years old, South Sold, no reaction.

Male, 27 years old, Greenport Village, no reaction.

Male, 32 years old, East Marion, no reaction.

Male, 40 years old, Shelter Island, no reaction.

By Friday, at least eight people had overdose in a series of small towns along North Fork on Long Island, six of whom (aged 40 and over) had died. According to police, their death was caused by cocaine contaminated with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin.

They left behind a seaside excelave surrounded by sadness that was familiar and confusing. Over the last decade, nearly 3,000 people have died from overdose in Suffolk County. But what’s new is a drug cocktail that killed six people in mid-August. It is a mixture of cocaine and highly lethal fentanyl. It offers a cheap and powerful high price and was previously mixed with heroin.

According to police and prosecutors, the tragedy in Suffolk County reflects a new and dangerous change in the street drug market. This trend has expanded over the past year as dealers have been affected by the same pandemic-related issues that plague the global supply chain. And push up the price.

Some people use alternatives like fentanyl, which are cheaper and more affordable than cocaine and heroin, to keep the supply of medicines, regardless of labor costs, while keeping the product together. But even fentanyl spots can be killed.

“The same market forces that are causing the shortage of daily necessities are putting pressure on the pharmaceutical market,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy D. Sini. “I’ve always seen a surge in user demand due to the impact of pandemics on users.”

Fentanyl’s presence in Sausold is nestled in an even larger tragedy that struck counties and nations. The opioid epidemic has involved hundreds of thousands of prescription analgesics.New York states, including Suffolk and Nassau counties that were hit hard last month $ 1 billion settlement Prescription opioids from pharmaceutical companies, distributors and suppliers to mitigate the harm caused by their role in the epidemic.

By 2020, the highest number of people ever recorded died from overdose in the United States, according to preliminary data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — 93,000, almost 30 percent increase Compared to the previous year.

In North Fork, police said the dead were not addicts, mostly recreational users, and sought fleeting highs. Behind the brief explanation of the police report was a rich and diverse life. Tehran maker With heavy metal music lovers and restaurant workers Fashion plate Rarely seen without his gold glitter boots. NS Jamaican chef A landscape architect who always answered the phone with a joke, with special tips for sourdough. Woman who loved goth Makeup that her mother called her “noodles”. NS New father Of a 6 month old boy.

Some other people also overdose fentanyl-contaminated cocaine between August 11th and 13th, according to Sausold police.Emergency personnel revived them Naloxone, Or a drug that can reverse an overdose of narcans and opioids.

The families of the deceased blamed the dealer. “They poisoned them to make money,” said Seth Tramontana, a 27-year-old son called Seth, after taking cocaine, which his family believes he didn’t know he was treated with fentanyl. He died on August 13. “It can be said that he made his choice and did what he was doing to enjoy, but this is not what he was looking for.”

Trends are not limited to Suffolk County. In February, the San Francisco Public Health Service Public health warning After an overdose of fentanyl by people who believe they have taken only cocaine. Nebraska authorities Similar warning August after 26 overdose in 3 weeks were associated with fentanyl-contaminated cocaine.

In New York City, users Passed warning In the spring, across social media, urged each other to check cocaine for the presence of fentanyl on a “bad batch” of cocaine containing drugs. Use of test kit Designed for the purpose.

“People who use cocaine don’t think the overdose epidemic has anything to do with them,” said Dr. Chinazo O. Cunningham, vice chairman of the New York City Department of Health. In 2017, only 17 of the city’s overdose deaths were due to cocaine in combination with fentanyl. That number increased to 183 in 2019, when the data was available. “Part of the national problem was that the story was about opioids. What we saw was that it was cocaine, not just opioids,” she said.

A few days after a series of deaths on Long Island, two people were arrested: Lavan Clayton, 51, in Greenport and Justin Smith, 46, in Smithtown. Clayton has been charged with several crimes of criminal sale of controlled substances. At a press conference, the district attorney said Mr. Clayton had sold the drug that caused at least two fatal overdose, based on text message exchanges and other communications.

Smith was charged with possession of narcotics and drug-related equipment. Smith’s lawyer, Anthony Scheller, said his client did not sell the drug. “He feels terrible for those people,” Scheller said. “But he wasn’t involved.” Mr. Clayton’s lawyer did not return a request for comment.

Suffolk County is actively promoting dealers to be held liable for deaths from overdose and was convicted of the state’s first manslaughter in 2017. Since then, the county has succeeded in prosecuting only three similar cases.

Prosecutors say that in order to successfully claim manslaughter, the dealer must prove that he has acted recklessly, preventing him from being held accountable.

Shortly after a series of deaths, the Long Island legislature promoted a new “death by dealer” law that would allow prosecutors to level the charges of felony murders at drug dealers and impose stricter sentences. According to the Drug Policy Alliance, a non-profit organization, about half of all US states have adopted similar legislation since 2011.

However, critics say that such legislation cannot prevent death from overdose and, conversely, increases the risk by fearing retaliation and fearing someone to seek help when overdose. Claims that there is a possibility.

Increasing access to fentanyl test kits and naloxone is a better way to avoid tragedy like Long Island, said Gray Gardner, senior lawyer for the Drug Policy Alliance.

“What we have to do is, as a country and as a society, to have a safe place that people can use to help people know that their supply is polluted and to prevent overdose.” He said.

On August 12, victims of Initial ML received a text message from a friend warning that cocaine purchased from Mr. Clayton contained fentanyl, prosecutors said. But by the time it was sent, the man was already dead.

Police did not confirm the identity of ML. However, the initials matched the initials of one of the men who died that day, landscape architect Matthew Lapiana. His friend Claris Stevens said he was familiar with Italian cooking, which he always answered on the phone with a stupid joke.

Stevens resented the people who provided the drug with fentanyl. “You put it in your supply, and you sell it, and people die, because it came from your hands,” she said. “They should definitely be charged with murder.”

After the deaths of six people, police and social welfare organizations spread throughout Sausold, handing out Narkan kits and providing workshops on how to administer overdose medications.

Local newspaper and social media feeds were packed with obituaries, funeral notices, and compliments. Nicole Eckert, Faust Rafael Elera Campos, Swainson Brown, Matthew Rapiana, Seth Tramontana, Navid Ahmazade.

They were connected by the life of a small town. Some were distant cousins ​​and some were ex-colleagues. Now they have joined the death.

Sitting on a porch on Fifth Avenue in Greenport, Tramontana’s grandparents Richard and Joan Orzewski clung to the memories of their 27-year-old grandson, who everyone called Boogie.

They remembered how Boogie sang a quaint fishing village in tattered gold boots patched with duct tape. After Christmas dinner, how Boogie always got out to bring a plate of grandmother’s cooking to a friend who is struggling during the holiday season.

“He did what he had put on this planet to do,” said Mrs. Orzewski, 74. “Make all these people realize their splendor.”

At the Pridwin Hotel on Shelter Island, co-owner Glenpetry preserved a bottle of sourdough starter left by friend and head chef Swainson Brown. When he was able to get away from fishing, 40-year-old Brown turned the hotel kitchen into a cooking laboratory he devised.

“‘Swainson, that’s not what we’re looking for,'” recalls Petrie. “

He paused. “Now we are praising this young man at this point, it breaks my heart,” Petrie said.

Susan C. Beechie contributed to the research.