Police agencies handled a string of heroin-related drug overdoses this weekend across Columbia County, with at least two that ended in death, police said Monday.

There were three confirmed overdoses in Hudson since Friday with one fatality, Hudson Police Chief L. Edward Moore said.

Police responded to a report of an overdose Sunday at 12:38 a.m. at a home on State Street, Moore said. A 58-year-old Hudson man at the residence died of a suspected overdose.

Autopsy results were not complete Monday, so police could not confirm the cause of death, Moore said.

Police responded to another reported overdose Friday at 5:45 p.m. in the Seventh Street Park where a Hudson man was revived.

Another man was revived in the city Saturday night at Third and State streets, Moore said. Narcan was used to save the life of one of the men, he said.

Eleven reported overdoses have taken place in Hudson since Jan. 1, including this weekend’s incidents, Moore said. Three of those overdoses in the city have ended in death.

Fentanyl is likely to have been mixed in with the heroin causing its potency to rise, Moore said.

“There’s more ingredients that are even more potent than fentanyl that are out there,” Moore said. “We will have to do some analysis.

“...Up until this point, I didn’t see any spike in overdoses [for the year].”

State police from Troop K investigated a fatal drug overdose in Kinderhook on Sunday, state police Public Information Officer Melissa McMorris said.

McMorris would not disclose the location or time of the incident.

McMorris did not comment on whether drug overdoses in Columbia County are rising, but said state police see the impact overdoses and drugs have on families firsthand.

“Without the backing of actual numbers to clearly demonstrate what is happening, I will not say that overdoses are rising or declining,” McMorris said. “The truth is, any heroin-related drug overdoses are tragic.”

The sheriff’s office released a statement Monday announcing the increase in overdoses is likely due to a potent batch of heroin on the streets.

“We’ve seen quite a spike in activity the past 48 hours,” Columbia County Sheriff David P. Bartlett said in the statement. “We’re working collectively with our local, state and federal partners to share information and coordinate a response.”

None of the overdose cases handled by the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office resulted in deaths, Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Lt. Wayne Lopez said. This is due to police officers being trained to administer Narcan, a medication that blocks the effects of opioids and reverses an overdose, Lopez said.

The unusual number of overdoses the sheriff’s office responded to this weekend is uncommon, Lopez said.

“We are able to save people from overdose deaths,” Lopez said.

Anyone who witnesses someone experiencing a heroin overdose should call for help immediately. The Good Samaritan law protects people suffering from an overdose or witnesses calling for help from being arrested on drug charges, according to the statement.

“We want people to call for help,” Bartlett said. “We aren’t looking to lock people up who are calling to help someone.”

Chatham Police Chief Peter Volkmann heard there were three fatal overdoses this weekend and either five or six overdoses in all, he said. There will not be an official cause of death until a medical examiner comes out with a report, he said.

“They [emergency personnel] made quite a few saves [this weekend]. They did a heck of a job,” Volkmann said.

The heroin was most likely laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid pain medication, which is commonly found in potentially lethal batches of drugs, Volkmann said. The drugs could be laced with a multitude of other things, Volkmann added.

“It’s usually a bad batch when we get a wave like this,” Volkmann said. “We err on the side of caution to get the word out.”

More overdoses may have occurred, but they are not being reported to police because families could be attempting to treat the overdoses themselves, Volkmann said.

The Greene County Sheriff’s Office did not have reports of any overdoses this weekend. Greene County Sheriff Greg Seeley said there has not been a spike of overdose incidents in the county this year.

Many lives are being saved because officers are trained to administer Narcan, Seeley said.

“It’s [drugs] dangerous — it’ll kill you,” Seeley said. “There’s nothing in this world that bad that you need to turn to drugs.”

The root of the overdose problem is drug dealers, Seeley said, and it’s law enforcement’s responsibility to put them behind bars.

Seeley advocated for people to be responsible for their actions and to say no to any drugs.

“Heroin is so cheap, it’s cheaper than cigarettes,” Seeley said. “And they’re [drug dealers] spiking it with everything known to man.”

State police Senior Investigator Pete Kusminsky found while drug overdoses having been increasing, deaths from overdoses have declined due to the use of Narcan, he said.

“That’s changing the stats a little bit,” Kusminsky said.

Kusminsky did not know of any reported drug overdoses in Greene County from this past weekend that were handled by state police.

To reach reporter Daniel Zuckerman email dzuckerman@thedailymail.net or follow him on Twitter @DZuckerman_CGM