INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Medics on the city’s east side are seeing a big spike in the number of people overdosing on a street drug that is mixed with heavy-duty bug spray.
“We describe it as being like a zombie. They cannot talk to us,� said IFD Captain Chris Major.
Our cameras were rolling when IFD crews responded to the corner of 10th and Rural for yet another drug overdose. Medics found a man in the grass near the east side intersection. He was unresponsive and struggling to breathe after medics say he overdosed on the street drug called KD.
“Their movements are slow and lethargic, a lot of drooling and a loss of function. We find them with their clothes off, eating the grass, pulling dirt out of the ground and trying to put it in their mouth,� said Cpt. Major.
KD is a mix of either marijuana, tobacco, or spice doused in a heavy-duty bug spray like Raid, then users smoke the mixture.
“We find people passed out with it still in their hand. That is how fast it has an effect on them,� said Cpt. Major.
Captain Major says his team at IFD Station 27 has had nearly a dozen KD overdose runs in one day.
“They do not know what is in this stuff or who has made it so they are all taking chance. Which for some reason they are willing to do because we get the same people using over and over again,� said Cpt. Major.
Last year, IFD Station 27 had around 5,100 runs. A good amount of those were for KD overdoses. But, Cpt. Major says fire crews cannot do much to help the user except take their blood pressure and wait for an ambulance.
“We send them off to the hospital to get checked out and within two hours they may be back out there on the street doing it again. We have had the same person multiple times in one day,� said Cpt. Major.
Crews say the highest number of KD overdose calls happens near 10th and Rural. Recently, IMPD had made a few drug busts in that area, working to find the main source and dealers of the drug.
