Pubdate: Sun, 28 May 2006
Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL)
Copyright: 2006 Orlando Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/325
Author: Sarah Karush,  the Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

MIX OF HEROIN, PAINKILLER IS LINKED TO FATAL OVERDOSES

DETROIT --  Larry, a 53-year-old heroin addict, has two cardinal 
rules: Never shoot up alone, and shoot up only one person at a time. 
If one overdoses, "you need someone there to bring you back," he said.

Larry, who asked that his last name not be used because of his habit, 
recited his rules after hearing that a mixture of heroin and a 
powerful painkiller has been killing users who think they are taking 
heroin alone.

Officials from Philadelphia to Chicago have reported deaths from the 
drug, called fentanyl and considered 80 times more powerful than 
morphine. In the Detroit area -- the apparent hub of the problem with 
more than 100 confirmed cases since last fall and as many as 41 
possible deaths in the past eight days -- officials from the national 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are investigating, and 
community organizations are scrambling to get the word out to users.

The CDC says it has no national statistics on fentanyl deaths. But 
individual reports from a scattering of states indicate the drug 
mixture is widespread.

Philadelphia has had 20 confirmed deaths from heroin mixed with 
fentanyl since April 17, and test results are pending in eight 
suspected cases, the city health department said.

In New Jersey, where officials first raised the alarm about the drug 
in April, there have been about 10 confirmed fentanyl deaths and 10 
to 20 suspected cases since last month, according to the state's 
poison-control center.

In Chicago, 30 people died from fentanyl or fentanyl-laced heroin 
from September 2005 to March 2006, said Christopher Hoyt, a spokesman 
for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in that city.

In Wayne County, which includes Detroit, Medical Examiner Carl J. 
Schmidt said he began noticing a rise in fentanyl-related deaths in 
September. In total, medical examiners found 63 people who died in 
Wayne County with fentanyl in their blood last year. From the 
beginning of 2006 to mid-April, there were 70 such cases.

County officials did not begin treating fentanyl as a crisis until 
last week, when the number of overdoses began to soar.

It was clear something was amiss when 12 people died of overdoses May 
18-19, Schmidt said.

The drug kills by inhibiting respiration, Schmidt said. "It literally 
suppresses your natural impulse to breathe," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman