Nine people were treated for possible opioid overdoses Thursday night in Isla Vista.
Santa Barbara County firefighters were dispatched shortly after 10 a.m. to the 6500 block of Del Playa Drive.
“Deputies and officers arrived within minutes, and found the unconscious male lying in the backseat of a vehicle,” said Kelly Hoover, a Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman. “The subject’s housemates claimed he had ingested an unknown amount of alcohol and a prescription pain reliever known as Oxycontin.”
The man was immediately transported to the hospital, Hoover said.
“While deputies and officers were still on-scene, they learned of another male subject who appeared to be suffering from an overdose,” Hoover said. “This male was carried out from the residence and had stopped breathing. A sheriff’s deputy administered a single dose of his department issued naloxone nasal spray.”
He also was taken to the hospital.
Deputies and officers subsequently conducted a welfare check of the residence, and found a social gathering of approximately 20 college-aged men, seven of whom exhibited signs and symptoms consistent with a drug overdose, Hoover said.
“All of them reportedly ingested a ‘blue pill,’ she noted.
At that point, a multiple casualty incident (MCI) was declared, and additional emergency personnel were called in.
More ambulances were dispatched, and a total of nine male subjects, most of whom are UCSB students, were transported to the hospital, Hoover said.
All were expected to have been released from the hospital by the end of the day Friday, Hoover said.
Hoover explained that Naloxone Hydrochloride, more commonly known by the brand name Narcan, blocks the effects of opioids (both medications and narcotics), including extreme drowsiness, slowed breathing, or loss of consciousness.
“The core mission of the Sheriff’s Office is to protect life, and the opportunity for our sheriff’s deputies to deploy naloxone within our local communities is directly saving lives,” she added.
— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.