Pubdate: Tue, 08 May 2007
Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
Copyright: 2007 Detroit Free Press
Contact:  http://www.freep.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/125
Author: Todd Spangler
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

U.S. WILL LIMIT USE OF FENTANYL INGREDIENT

WASHINGTON -- The federal government announced Monday that it will 
regulate a chemical that can be used in the production of fentanyl, a 
powerful drug often combined with heroin and blamed in the deaths of 
more than 200 people in metro Detroit since late 2005.

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said the 
government will regulate the manufacture, importation, exportation 
and distribution of the chemical N-phenethyl-4-piperidone, also known as NPP.

Officials say NPP is a base chemical used in production of fentanyl 
in the United States and has been seen in several fentanyl labs 
raided in the last seven years.

"If we can control the precursor, hopefully we can reduce the illicit 
manufacture of fentanyl," Deputy Drug Czar Scott Burns said Monday.

However, law enforcement authorities say Mexico was the likely source 
of many overdoses in cities, including Detroit, last year.

Fentanyl -- as much as 50 times more powerful than heroin -- is 
blamed in more than 1,000 overdose deaths in the United States since 
2005, the drug policy office said.

The office said Detroit, Chicago and Philadelphia have seen an 
extremely high number of fentanyl-related deaths.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman