Mishawaka woman overdoses twice in two days on heroin, part of string of ODs in city
MISHAWAKA, Ind. -- A Mishawaka woman opened up to ABC57 about her heroin problem just one day after her last overdose.
“Overdosed, then got dumped off by my house, robbed, and then um, then the next day I went and got the same stuff and overdosed again.” Sarah Stanley, 26, said while sitting in the stairwell of her apartment.
Stanley, who says she's heading to a detox center Monday, was saved by first responders on Saturday who administered the lifesaving drug Narcan.
“They had to yeah. I wasn’t breathing at all and they said I was completely purple, it was bad.” She explained.
The next day, she went to the same dealer and bought the same batch of heroin.
"Did the fact that it almost killed you make it more attractive?" We asked her. Stanley nodded, then told a story about another time she purchased heroin. “Before I got clean this last time, my friend overdosed and I made sure she was okay and I said, ‘I’m glad you’re okay, but, who did you get that from?’ And she said someone’s name and I was like 'okay,' and as soon as I hung up the phone with her, that’s who I called to get some dope.”
She was just one of several overdose victim's in Mishawaka this past weekend. Just two blocks away from her home, police responded to an overdose call on Smith Street. Officers arrested a 25-year-old man for possession. His mother called first responders when she could not get him to respond. She tells ABC57 that her son was turning blue, before he woke up to her slapping him and yelling.
Stanley knows that man. When asked if he used the same heroin she did, she said "Probably."
First responders also used Narcan to revive a man on South West Street.
“On average, what we see is there is an overdose everyday in the county. Of that 7, one will die.” Dave Wells, Commander of the St. Joseph Drug Investigations Unit, said.
Wells says the county had 54 opioid overdose deaths last year. That is down from 57 the year before and 58 the year before that. While it's not a huge drop, he says it's much better than the national trend where numbers are skyrocketing.
However, it's hard to tell if strings of overdoses come from the same batch of heroin or dealer. But, his unit is looking into the Mishawaka cases from the weekend.
“It’s like finding a needle in a haystack to say, ‘it’s coming from that guy,’ because there’s 15 other guys over here selling the same thing.” Wells said.
Wells explains that the heroin in the area comes from several cities, Chicago, Detroit and Indianapolis. But, he says, a lot of it is coming into the area from Chicago. In fact, a suspected dealer from East Chicago was arrested in Mishawaka this weekend as well.
Sarah Stanley says she had been clean for two years until recently. However, she started using hard drugs when she was only 15-years-old. she hopes this past weekend was the last time she flirts with death.
“It’s just, I can’t get past those couple days of being sick. People hit me up and I’m like bam!” She said.