Police in Boulder, Colorado have issued a warning about potentially tainted drugs after six men at a Kappa Sigma fraternity house were hospitalized after a cocaine overdose Saturday night.
Officers were called to a local hospital and the fraternity's house on Pennsylvania Avenue around 10 p.m. after reports that several people were sickened and had possibly overdosed.
One of the men had a "grave prognosis" but the others are now in “stable” condition, police said.
Further investigation revealed the individuals had consumed a possibly tainted batch of cocaine at a fraternity party. Alcohol was also involved.
As of Sunday evening, it was unknown whether fentanyl was a factor in this incident.
Detectives are also investigating whether this was related to pledging at the fraternity, according to police.
A spokesperson for the University of Colorado Boulder confirmed the people involved in the incident are current students at the school, but Kappa Sigma is an off-campus fraternity that had been expelled.
"CU Boulder’s Division of Student Affairs, Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS) and the Office of Victim Assistance (OVA) are working together to communicate with those directly impacted and provide support. We are also working closely with the Boulder Police Department as it continues its criminal investigation. CU Boulder’s Division of Student Affairs will determine whether any necessary disciplinary action will be taken," a CU spokesperson said in a statement.
The spokesperson continued to list some ways in which the university educates students about the use of alcohol and other substances. That includes the Divisions of Health and Wellness and Student Affairs working to educate students about overdose prevention and harm reduction, training that is offered to student groups and providing free naloxone and fentanyl test strips throughout campus and the community.
Scripps News Denver spoke with Blue Rising, a nonprofit organization that works to raise awareness about the risks of certain substances. The group's executive director, Dawn Reinfeld, said they work with 12 college campuses across the state of Colorado.
“It's hard to talk about drugs, and it's hard to admit when there's a problem," Reinfeld said. “If we don't talk honestly about that drug problem, it never gets better, and it doesn't give us a chance to educate and to just be honest with ourselves about who we are and the circumstance we find ourselves in.”
CU Boulder participates in the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program (ODMAP), which is a national system designed to track where overdoses occur. The data can help determine if overdoses are spiking in certain areas, and would "notify first responders of increased incidents in specific geographic locations."
"We need to track it and then warn people. And the school, not just CU Boulder, but the other schools in the state, need to send out warnings to parents and students, just like we would for an active shooter," Reinfeld said. “If we can let them know, then it's not this silent killer. It can be something that the community then acknowledges is happening, and either people can choose to test their drugs or not use drugs... they can make an informed decision.”
A CU spokesperson said the school does amplify messaging from Boulder County Public Health and law enforcement when those agencies issue warnings about the prevalence of certain drugs in the community. "The Boulder Police Department is the lead agency in this incident, and we will continue to coordinate with BPD should campuswide messaging be needed," the spokesperson wrote in an email.
Police said the investigation is ongoing, and charges are pending.
This story was originally published by Robert Garrison at Scripps News Denver.
