ROCHESTER, Minn. – On a quiet street in Rochester, candles flicker; the flames are a reminder of heartbreak and a crisis that continues to grow.
Mariah Southwick says her friends, Rachel Kretchmer and Michael Shulze, died a week ago after buying what they thought was cocaine – instead it was cocaine laced with fentanyl.
The Southern Minnesota Regional Medical Examiner’s Office has not confirmed that drugs were involved.
“A lot of times people trust the people they get things from, but you can’t trust anyone anymore,” Southwick said. “It happened to Rachel and Mike, they didn’t think it would happen to them.”
Just a day earlier, Rochester police responded to two suspected overdoses just hours apart, leaving a 52-year-old man dead and a 19-year-old woman requiring resuscitation.
“We’ve seen what appears to be a spike,” Lt. Frank Ohm said.
It’s a troubling wave for law enforcement after years of progress. The city has cut overdoses by more than half in two years.
“We’ve seen fentanyl in virtually every type of drug available on the street,” Ohm said.
But now outreach workers say things are getting worse and more resources are needed.
Addiction specialists such as Caitlyn Caskey with Recovery is Happening are once again sounding the alarm.
“There are drug dealers who just want to make money and don’t want to keep people alive,” Caskey said.
Ohm said there is a coordinated effort underway to save lives, but he encourages everyone to only use medications prescribed by a doctor.
“That’s why we have to fight as hard as we can to go after these people who are selling these drugs in our community and literally killing members of our community,” he said.
For now, Caskey emphasizes the importance of Narcan training for everyone.