A string of fentanyl overdoses in Waikiki has alarmed Hawaii health and law enforcement officials, who are warning young people that any street or online drug could be deadly.

• Five people ages 22 to 32 were found unconscious in Waikiki within 45 minutes early Thursday, three outside a bar and two inside a fast food restaurant.
• Police and firefighters gave them Narcan before ambulances arrived with more doses; five ambulances and a supervisor were sent.
• A dozen overdoses hit Oahu in under a week, and one or two fentanyl overdoses a day have followed since Thursday.
• The spike is a shock because fentanyl deaths had been falling since a 2023 peak, when a mass Waikiki overdose killed two people who thought they were taking cocaine.
• Pills sold as Xanax, Vicodin, or OxyContin are often laced with fentanyl, so buyers frequently do not know what they are taking.

Outlook: Officials expect the risk to stay high as college classes resume and are pushing wider Narcan access while they trace the tainted supply.