Who was Katherine Schlegel?
Katherine Schlegel was a college student, a 2016 graduate of NCHS and a lifelong resident of New Canaan, Connecticut. Slaughter traveled to New York City the weekend of the festival with another soldier, Tanner Howell, who arranged to buy 57 molly tablets to use with Schlegel and her friend at the gig. 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, also known by its scientific name MDMA, or more popularly, ecstasy or molly, is an illegal drug with stimulant and hallucinogenic effects. A typical recreational dose of ecstasy ranges from 50 to 150 mg, and users will typically consume 1–2 tablets over the course of an evening. Taking up to 10 pills at a time can lead to toxic effects, such as overdose, according to The Recovery Village.
Fatal overdoses in Lancaster County soared to 146 in 2020, a 40% increase from the previous year that officials are attributing to COVID-19.
Lancaster Joining Forces, which was formed in 2017 with the mission to reduce deaths from opioids and heroin, said the pandemic has ushered in many of the triggers for addiction and relapse including mental health distress, social isolation, changes in daily routines and access to treatment and support services.
âWe had been tracking the numbers all along and sensed that they were going to be higher than in the recent past,â said Alice Yoder, executive director for community health at Lancaster General Health and co-chair of Joining Forces. âYet seeing the final numbers is heartbreaking because these are people behind these numbers.â
Kansas City, Missouri, police said they are seeing an increase in the number of overdose deaths in teens who take pills laced with the deadly opioid fentanyl.