Pubdate: Thu, 27 Apr 2006
Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
Copyright: 2006 The Sun-Times Co.
Contact:  http://www.suntimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/81
Author: Annie Sweeney, Crime Reporter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

FEDS TESTING HEROIN NATIONWIDE FOR OVERDOSE LINK

Federal law enforcement investigators are attempting to collect 
samples of heroin from around the country in the wake of overdose 
outbreaks, including the one here in Chicago, to see if there is a connection.

Overdoses have also been reported in the New Jersey area and 
Maryland. Authorities have said they suspect that a prescription 
pain-killer called fentanyl might have either been cut into the 
heroin or substituted for heroin.

Agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration were sending 
samples to a testing unit for comparison, said spokesman Christopher Hoyt.

24 Arrests Related To Case

Meanwhile, the Chicago Police Department, which has formed a Heroin 
Task Force Initiative, has arrested 24 people in connection with the 
local overdoses, and an aggressive investigation into the local 
source of the tainted drugs continues, even as the number of victims 
has declined, said Frank Limon, chief of the department's Organized 
Crime Division.

Those arrested have been charged with drug offenses, but Limon and 
other department officials said they would seek the highest charges 
possible, even homicide.

"Our goal is the arrest and prosecution of the drug sellers who are 
responsible," Limon said. "Period. We definitely have to go dig and 
try to understand how this fentanyl-laced heroin is getting out there 
on the street."

Chicago's most serious outbreak happened at the beginning of the 
year, when several people died, apparently from drugs purchased at 
the South Side Dearborn Homes public housing development. Autopsy 
results showed all of the victims had ingested fentanyl.

But there have been scattered outbreaks since last September, 
including the most recent one, which began around April 13.

Authorities say they suspect the heroin is tainted with fentanyl 
because of the victims' symptoms and the fact that paramedics had to 
use twice as much Narcan, which is used to reverse drug overdoses. 
Fentanyl is 100 times stronger than heroin and can kill in an instant.

Counts Show Problem Subsiding

About the same time Chicago was experiencing its April outbreak, 
authorities in Camden, N.J., and Philadelphia also reported several 
fatal heroin overdoses. As of Monday, there had been nine reported 
fatal cases in those areas but dozens more non-fatal overdoses.

Limon said he believed the overdoses are declining based on counts 
from police and Chicago Fire Department officials. The two 
departments have been communicating daily about the overdoses.

Fire Department paramedics responded to 105 overdoses between April 
13 and 24, and police had counted about half of that -- likely 
because victims often leave right after a paramedic treats them, he 
said. On Tuesday, the Fire Department reported seven overdoses and 
police recorded just two, Limon said.
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