Pubdate: Fri, 16 Jun 2006
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Copyright: 2006 Chicago Tribune Company
Contact:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82
Author: David Heinzmann and Jeff Coen, Tribune staff reporters
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

POLICE PLAN FENTANYL FIGHT

Joint Effort Targets Mexican Suppliers

At the end of a two-day conference on the painkiller fentanyl, police 
and federal drug investigators said they are better informed about 
the growing crisis and are aggressively working to cut off the 
Mexican supply of the drug, which has tainted the U.S. heroin market 
and killed hundreds of people.

Chicago police and Drug Enforcement Administration officials held the 
summit in the DEA's office here Wednesday and Thursday in order to 
bring together investigators, scientists and public health officials 
working on the problem around the country.

Officials are calling the emerging fentanyl problem a crisis that has 
become larger than they anticipated, and they felt a need to raise 
awareness and understanding, as well as coordinate their work 
pursuing the traffickers pushing the drug to heroin users.

"We fully intend to engage in a coordinated effort to identify people 
who are engaged in manufacturing fentanyl illegally and 
clandestinely, and we're going to aggressively pursue them," said Tim 
Ogden, associate special agent in charge of the DEA's Chicago field office.

Police and DEA agents attended from Detroit, Newark, Philadelphia, 
St. Louis, San Diego and Los Angeles and several other cities. More 
than 125 people attended the conference, and organizers said the 
turnout demonstrates the urgency of the problem.

"Law enforcement officials talk on a regular basis, but this 
conference has added another dimension to the communication process," 
Chicago Police Supt. Philip Cline said. "We have developed a network 
of law enforcement agencies, health officials, EMS agencies, and 
chemists to share knowledge and information when a crisis of crime 
hits, like it has here."

Of the 64 people who have died in fentanyl-related overdoses in Cook 
County over the last year, 20 had pure fentanyl in their bodies, said 
Frank Limon, chief of the Chicago Police Department's organized crime 
division. The others had fentanyl mixed with heroin or other drugs.

In addition to chasing the drug traffickers, leaders said, they plan 
to push a public awareness campaign that would include outreach to 
drug prevention professionals.

"We're going to collaborate in a similar event with the treatment and 
prevention people. We're very concerned about this threat, and we're 
actively and aggressively pursuing it," Ogden said.

In Chicago, police have arrested more than 100 street-level drug 
dealers in hopes to develop information about the wholesale 
suppliers. Investigators are also trying to determine whether the 
drug is being produced by more than one lab in Mexico. Federal 
investigators are currently testing seized samples of fentanyl to see 
whether they were produced at a Mexican lab that Mexican and U.S. 
investigators shut down recently.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman