Pubdate: Wed, 07 Jun 2006
Source: Bluefield Daily Telegraph (WV)
Copyright: 2006 Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Contact:  http://www.bdtonline.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1483
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)

FENTANYL: A DEADLY ADDICTION

Abuse In Southwest Virginia Is Growing

News of growing abuse of the prescription painkiller fentanyl brings 
another deadly battle to the region's war on drugs. In 2005, fentanyl 
was the fourth leading cause of overdose deaths in Southwest 
Virginia, while only three to four years earlier "it wasn't even a 
blip on the screen," Tazewell County Commonwealth Attorney Dennis Lee said.

The first distribution case in Tazewell County for fentanyl came in 
2002. Since then, there has been no indication of the drug's decline. 
In recent months, two more individuals in Tazewell County have been 
indicted for possession and distribution of the painkiller.

The use of the drug has been on the increase since intense media 
attention brought the Oxycontin plague into the spotlight. Lee 
believes fentanyl is being used by hard-core addicts who have moved 
on to fentanyl from Oxycontin because it may be easier to obtain.

But, when abused, it appears to be even deadlier than it's predecessor.

Fentanyl is 80 times more powerful than morphine. And, unlike 
morphine and heroin which are dosed in milligrams, fentanyl is 
prescribed in micrograms -- 1/100th of a milligram.

Even more alarming than the knowledge of the drug's use is how many 
addicts are abusing the method by which it may be prescribed.

Fentanyl is prescribed in a Duragesic patch -- a skin patch that 
releases the drug by a time-release method. "People in the drug 
community will poke holes in it and squeeze out the gel in the patch 
and then shoot it up or cut it open into 'chicklets,' square pieces, 
and chew those up or put those under their tongues," Lee said.

Medical examiners have also reported overdose cases in which victims 
were discovered with numerous fentanyl patches on their bodies.

In recent weeks, the painkiller has made national headlines with the 
news of more than 100 deaths in eight states from heroin users who 
used a deadly mix of fentanyl and heroin.

Like so many drugs, fentanyl can be of great medicinal value for 
patients who have been prescribed the drug by their doctors and use 
it appropriately.

Yet those who abuse it may find the consequences are lethal.

"It is very easy to overdose on this drug," Lee said, relating how a 
toxicologist once told him, "if you have a person who abuses fentanyl 
on a regular basis, you probably have a person not long for the world."

Sad, but true.

Lee does not believe fentanyl is, of yet, being used experimentally 
by teens -- this is one trend we hope continues.

And we commend those in the justice system who are working to arrest 
and prosecute those charged with distributing the potent painkiller.

This battle in the drug war is truly a matter of life and death.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman