Fentanyl plaguing south central Kentucky

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) – An 18-year-old dies, and a juvenile is hospitalized after what is presumed by the Warren County Sheriff’s Office to be a fentanyl overdose in Bowling Green.

Drug overdose leads to one dead, one hospitalized in Bowling Green

WCSO and local drug task forces have raised concerns over fentanyl-related overdoses, incidents and deaths in the area, as the drug, and its deadly nature plague south central Kentucky.

“Two high school kids or they were little about high school, about 19 years old. Last year they split a split an M30A blue fentanyl pill. They bought it and they split it. One took one, half one took the other. One of them overdosed and died, and one of them lived because that one that overdosed and died had a hot spot of fentanyl in it,” Director of the South Central Kentucky Drug Task Force Jacky Hunt said.

The South Central Kentucky Drug Task Force has reported the amount of fentanyl pill seizures in 2024 is seven times what it was in 2023; that year having 50 interceptions, and 2024 seeing 350 already this year.

“I have [spent] 20 plus years in narcotics alone,” Hunt said. “These last few years I’ve never seen a drug like fentanyl, ever.”

The DTF over the past two years has investigated over 120 known fentanyl overdose cases in Logan and Simpson Counties alone.

Although recent statistics from Kentucky’s Office of Drug Control Policy show that in 2022, fentanyl-related deaths have decreased 5% from 2021, the number of pill seizures and recent fentanyl-related overdoses are still concerning numbers to law enforcement agencies.

“Roughly just in round numbers, one-third of the overdose death cases in Kentucky are attributed to methamphetamine and the other two-thirds to fentanyl,” Director of the Warren County Drug Task Force Tommy Loving said. “I think the fentanyl is probably the worst thing we’ve seen because it is so deadly and so unpredictable.”

Warren County Sheriff Brett Hightower is urging the community to not buy or use any pills or drugs from a third party, because substances such as Valium, Xanax, and marijuana, have the potential to be laced with fentanyl.

“So many people think it’s just one pill, but one pill can kill and. And that’s all it takes. You absolutely cannot take any pill it seems like right now, period, that’s from the street in any way,” Hightower said.

Administering Narcan can save the life of someone experiencing a fentanyl-related overdose.

Narcan distributors in Kentucky can be found here.

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