Pubdate: Fri, 22 Sep 2006
Source: Record, The (Hackensack, NJ)
Copyright: 2006 North Jersey Media Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.bergen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/44
Author: Douglass Crouse, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

ADDICT'S NEEDLE HAD FENTANYL

PEQUANNOCK -- Tests have found traces of fentanyl in the needle Chris 
Loeffler used the night of his fatal overdose in July.

Police confirmed Thursday that fluid in the 20-year-old's syringe 
tested positive for both heroin and fentanyl, an opiate 100 times 
stronger than morphine. The drug is sometimes mixed with heroin for 
an increased high and has been blamed for hundreds of deaths around 
the country this year.

Morris County has not had a fentanyl death since 2002. A spokesman 
for the county Prosecutor's Office cautioned that it would be 
impossible to specifically blame the drug for Loeffler's death.

His family found him barely alive in a bathroom the night of July 16. 
He lingered until the next morning, when he was removed from life support.

Lt. Dan Dooley said the fluids he received while hospitalized may 
have flushed out whatever fentanyl was in his system.

Police recovered the syringe from the Loeffler home at that time and 
sent it to a state police laboratory, which reported the results this 
week, Dooley said.

Beth and Rob Loeffler learned about the positive fentanyl test on 
Thursday from a township detective. Their son, who graduated from the 
township's high school in 2005, had been using heroin for two years 
at the time of his death.

"I don't know if it helps to know that or not," Beth Loeffler said of 
the test results. "The point is he's gone no matter what. It shows, 
though, that you can't know what you're getting when you buy off the street."

Loeffler's official cause of death was acute opiate intoxication. 
Opiates include heroin, morphine, codeine and fentanyl.

Statewide, there were 27 fentanyl deaths through June, according to 
the latest figures available. Bergen County had two, Passaic County 
one and Hudson County one. Camden County had the most, with 11.

Following Loeffler's death, police interviewed two other addicts who 
had been with him that weekend. One of the two young men apparently 
had bought the heroin in Paterson.

"We looked into it to see if there were any charges to file," Dooley 
said. "There's really nothing more we can do."