There has been an increase in Heroin incidents occurring in Connecticut and has recently impacted the University of Hartford. Tuesday February 9th, a woman from New London overdosed in the Konover restroom by the Village Market.
Public Safety received a call at 6:38 pm of a possible overdose and Lieutenant Christopher Lyons responded to the call from the sports center with Officer Mealy arriving in less than two minutes. They then walked into the restroom where the woman was found bent over in half with a hypodermic needle falling out of her arm.
The woman was unconscious and unresponsive until two of the public safety officers administered oxygen and at that time she perked up right away. They then proceeded to call EMS along with the Hartford police followed by Hartford fire.
Public Safety, then, looked inside the toilet and discovered five bags of heroin and when the woman was asked on the scene she claimed to only have done a bag and a half. However, Lieutenant Lyons was not convinced. Later, she was taken to Saint Francis Hospital where she was stabilized and questioned for further information.
It has been confirmed that the woman was not a University of Hartford student and she took a cab from New London with another man who was also not a student. The man witnessed the entire incident in Konover and provided no aide to the woman and left after public safety arrived walking off campus. The man was then identified and taken into custody by Hartford police.
“I sent the email because I want students who are not using it to be aware of the danger and not use it and if there are any students using it I want to get them the resources to say look right now something that you are using could cause you to die, so maybe if you could get some help and not use that would help you to stay alive,” VP for Student Affairs explained the rason behind the email cautioning students about the use of heroin.
Heroin cases has spread all around the Hartford and New London area. U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Congressman Joe Courtney (D- CT2) convened law enforcement, doctors, and experts for a two-day summit in New London on Monday, February 15 and Tuesday, February 16 addressing the deadly heroin epidemic.It addressed law enforcement measures to combat the ongoing crisis in New London and across the nation along with a round-table discussion on heroin and opioid abuse, treatment and prevention with Michael Botticelli, Director of National Drug Control Policy along with Connecticut families & stakeholders.
With the open-campus policy and the increase in heroin incidents around the area, the university would like to insure that the students remain drug-free.
