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One weekend, six heroin overdoses in Muskegon County

The drug creates big case loads for Muskegon County Prosecutor D.J. Hilson and his staff.

MUSKEGON COUNTY, Mich. - The weekend of Dec. 8 through 9 was a busy weekend for police and E.M.S. in Muskegon County.

Area police departments responded to six overdoes from heroin calls. Three of the overdose calls were in the city of Muskegon, including one that involved the death of a 40-year-old woman at a home on Roberts Street.

"She was discovered by a friend or a family member and when they got there she was unconscious and unresponsive," said Jeffrey Lewis, Muskegon Public Safety Director.

In at least one of the other two calls in Muskegon, Narcan was used to save the individual's life.

Lewis says his community is no different that the rest of the country when it comes to issues relating to the dangerous drug.

On Monday, Dec. 10, Narcan was used to save the life of a 33-year-old Walkerville man. The Oceana County Sheriff's Department is investigating that heroin overdose.

In Mason County, Ludington Police are investigating the death of a 35-year-old woman who died of a heroin overdose on Nov. 30.

In May, Ludington had three fatal heroin overdoses. Investigators believe in those three cases the heroin may have come from the same source.

A drug task force member on the lakeshore tells 13 ON YOUR SIDE drugs that end up in Ludington often pass thru dealers in Muskegon County.

The drug creates big case loads for Muskegon County Prosecutor D.J. Hilson and his staff.

In 2018, Hilson authorized 85 charges involving heroin. To help addicts, Hilson and the Muskegon County courts created a Muskegon County Recovery Court. Cases for the court are already under review. The court will go fully active in Jan. 2019.

The court offers offenders with substance abuse problems additional services.

State-wide, Hilson would like to see better track of heroin overdoses and deaths -- so prosecutors, police and community member can fully understand the number of lives lost to the drug each year.

"I think we are not seeing the total picture," said Hilson.

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