An especially potent strain of heroin is wreaking havoc across the Santa Clarita Valley.
The number of overdoses has spiked in the last three days, in what doctors are calling an "alarming" trend.
"Two nights ago, we saw eight patients come in," said Dr. Bud Lawrence, of the Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. "Last night, we saw an additional OD that has come in."
But as the overdoses increase, some people are trying to do something to avoid becoming just another statistic.
In Bouquet Canyon Park, drug counselor Cary Quashen meets a man named Kevin, who is trying to get clean.
Quashen knows Kevin, his opiate addiction, his current use of methadone. He fears Kevin's addiction could soon end up killing him.
And Kevin knows, too, the dangers of a drug epidemic. He knows about David Alexander Esquivel, the 28-year-old man from Castaic who just on Sunday died of an overdose in a bathroom in the same park where Kevin now sits.
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"Yes, I'm concerned," says Kevin, "not for me, but for other people."
Kevin makes plans to go to rehab with Quashen. If he stays there, he'll get treatment for a month or more. Others, however, may never get the chance.
The number of overdose outbreaks in Southern California will continue to rise, says Quashen; taking street heroin is like playing Russian roulette: you just don't know what's in that syringe.
