Male, Unaffiliated with Trinity, Overdoses on Allen

By Jackie Mercadante ’17
Contributing Writer
Earlier this month, on Oct. 3, there was an incident on the North side of campus that involved a male, not attending Trinity, who is thought to have suffered a drug overdose.
At approximately 7:40 p.m., a Trinity student walking by the Hillel House came across this individual. The student notified the Securitas officer assigned to Allen Place about the unconscious person on the east side of the Hillel House. Trinity recently hired Securitas to help augment Campus Safety efforts. The Securitas officer immediately contacted Campus Safety to inform them of the situation, and Campus Safety responded by calling the Hartford Fire Department and Aetna ambulance.
The man was treated at the scene and regained consciousness. He was then transported to the hospital where he received further treatment.
When asked if incidents such as this were a common occurrence, Director of Campus Safety Brian Heavren stated, “at times we see some intoxication incidents that occur in the area of Allen Place, but they are not a regular occurrence.”
A 2011 Connecticut Drug Control Update from the White House ranks Connecticut in the top ten states for dependence on illicit drugs among young adults age 18 to 25. In a survey, 8.23 percent of Connecticut residents reported using illicit drugs in the past month which is higher than the national average of 8.02 percent. The White House report stated that heroin is the most commonly cited drug among primary drug treatment admissions in Connecticut. As a direct consequence of drug use, 444 people died in Connecticut in 2007.
Many efforts have been taken to help combat this drug problem. The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program helps to coordinate drug control efforts among federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. The Hartford County HIDTA Task Force focuses its efforts in the Hartford County area and major transportation centers, including the Bradley International Airport, to decrease the accessibility of heroin, cocaine, and crack cocaine in the region.