BOISE, Idaho — Cher Gray says her son is expected to make a full recovery from an overdose that happened last week. Her son's overdose was part of a string of overdoses that the Nampa Police Department said happened after people in Canyon County overdosed on what they thought was OxyContin over the weekend.
Nampa police didn't specify what the pill is but Gray believes it's Fentanyl.
"My son's toxicology report is negative for opioids so this was not Oxycontin, not what he thought he was getting," Gray told KTVB on Sunday night as her son was recovering at St. Luke's. "It sounds like from what everyone else has told us at this point that it is something synthetic laced with Fentanyl."
Director of Ada County Paramedics Steve Boyenger says people overdosing on Fentanyl is more common than some may think. "There is no question people are overdosing on Fentanyl and not even knowing they are taking medications that have Fentanyl in them," he said.
Boyenger added that the difference between opioids like Oxycontin and synthetic opioids like Fentanyl can be fatal. "At least the medical-grade Fentanyl that we deal with, it is 100 times stronger than either heroin or Oxycontin," he said.
He continued that when people buy drugs off the street, they often don't know what they are giving.
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"The prescription medication that some people are getting or is being resold to them does have a standard look and size and numbers that are imprinted on it," Boyenger said. "The street drugs, they could be anything."
About 10% of all the calls Ada County Paramedics go on are for overdoses. Not all of them are opioid and synthetic opioid-related, but when they are, Boyenger says patients have the same symptoms.
"Some change in their level unconsciousness, pinpoint pupils and most importantly for us is the effect those medications have on the person's own respiratory drive," Boyenger said.
The antidote Narcan reverses the effects of drugs like Oxycontin and Fentanyl - it's what saved Gray's son's life.
Narcan can now be bought at the pharmacy without a prescription. For those seeking medical assistance in a drug-related emergency, a recently passed law provides protection from getting in trouble with the law.