A powerful veterinary sedative called medetomidine was found in two drug samples collected following a mass overdose earlier this month in Baltimore's Penn North community, Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Michelle Taylor told the Baltimore Banner .

On October 8, 11 people reportedly overdosed , and seven of them were treated at the hospital. Narcan was administered to multiple people.

The sedative is often mixed with the synthetic opioid fentanyl and can make overdoses harder to reverse, according to the Banner.

Medetomidine can be especially dangerous for people who use drugs because naloxone, a commonly used drug to treat opioid overdoses, is not effective against the tranquilizer, the Banner added.

Police told WJZ that outreach teams responded to the scene and handed ou

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