The Cowlitz County Coroner's Office issued a warning Wednesday about the dangers of street drugs after recently seeing four drug-related deaths within a three-day period.
All of the victims were between 22 and 33 years old and tested positive for fentanyl, Coroner Dana Tucker said. Overdose deaths, especially those related to fentanyl, are increasing in Cowlitz County. Fentanyl deaths in the county doubled from 2022 to 2023.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that appears in a number of forms and can be fatal even in small amounts. The coroner's office warned that other drugs may also be laced with fentanyl without the user's knowledge.
"We are afraid that there might be a bad batch going around," Tucker wrote in an email. "I hate saying 'bad' batch, because unfortunately they are all bad."
