Oxford Police Issues Statement on Narcotics Overdoses

After catching wind of social media posts referencing large amounts of overdoses in the Oxford area, Chief of Police Jeff McCutchen has released a statement about these posts. 

The full statement can be found below. 

On Monday, September 14, 2020, our office was notified about a post that was circulating social media that referenced narcotics in Oxford. In 2020, our agency has responded to 11 narcotic overdoses. Of those overdoses, two were fatal. The Lafayette County Metro Narcotics unit works closely with the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and the Drug Enforcement Agency to investigate and trace these events.

We know that many people are accessing drugs through the dark net and receiving narcotics through the mail. Our agents have also traced these drugs back to our surrounding states through their investigations. When drugs are accessed through these means, we know two things happen, the user does not know what they are getting or where it is coming from and it diminishes law enforcements ability to track and locate the source. We implore our community to never take drugs! Taking an unknown substance can have life altering results. In recent field tests our agents have found that our street level drugs had traces of Fentanyl in them. Drugs are being cut and processed with Fentanyl so that the dealer can produce more of the drug. The human body can only withstand a small microgram dose of Fentanyl. Cross contamination of any drug laced with Fentanyl can be deadly and that’s a risk not worth taking!

Mississippi’s Good Samaritan Law protects someone from prosecution when they call 911 for themselves or a friend when medical attention is requested. We ask our community to contact us if you have any information about narcotic use or distribution in the Lafayette, Oxford or University communities. You can reach our Metro Narcotics Unit at 662-236-3900.

Sincerely,

Jeff McCutchen
Chief of Police