Pubdate: Thu, 11 Sep 2008
Source: Asheville Citizen-Times (NC)
Copyright: 2008 Asheville Citizen-Times
Contact:  http://www.citizen-times.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/863
Author: Jon Ostendorff
Note: MAP archives articles exactly as published, except that our 
editors may redact the names and addresses of accused persons who 
have not been convicted of a crime, if those named are not otherwise 
public figures or officials.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Fentanyl

DANGERS FROM PAINKILLER FENTANYL LOOM IN WNC

FLETCHER - A Henderson County man's arrest marks at least the second 
time in five months law enforcement in Western North Carolina filed 
murder charges following a fentanyl overdose death.

The powerful prescription painkiller has been blamed in a surging 
number of overdose deaths nationwide.

Henderson County investigators charged with [redacted] second-degree 
murder in the death of Justin Kane Anderson. [redacted] also is 
charged with possession with intent to sell or deliver fentanyl and 
sale or delivery of fentanyl.

Anderson, 20, died July 20 of acute fentanyl toxicity. He was using a 
fentanyl patch, Henderson County Sheriff's Office Capt. Charles 
McDonald said Wednesday.

Authorities believe seven other people in Henderson County died this 
year after overdosing on fentanyl, McDonald said Wednesday.

"We don't normally see that with prescription drugs," he said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a report 
released in July estimated 1,000 people died nationwide from doses of 
fentanyl created in illegal laboratories in 2007. The drug is 
commonly given to cancer patients.

Rise in Deaths

Emergency room physicians have reported a rise in deaths related to 
abuse of fentanyl, which is 50 times more potent than heroin when 
taken intravenously, according to the government agency.

The drug and others like it are a serious problem in WNC. A survey 
earlier this year by N.C. Healthy Schools found about 25 percent of 
WNC high school students said they have used prescription painkillers.

Anderson's death came just months after an Erwin High student died in 
his sleep with a stolen fentanyl patch on each arm.

The patches sell for $75-$100 on the street and the drug is so 
addictive that an illegal market is created almost instantaneously, 
McDonald said.

Prosecutors in WNC are taking notice of the problem.

District Attorney Michael Bonfoey, the prosecutor for the state's 
seven westernmost counties, won two manslaughter pleas stemming from 
fentanyl overdoses in 2006. The cases started as second-degree murder charges.

Madison County District Attorney Jerry Wilson charged a couple was 
charged in May with second-degree murder following an overdose of a 
28-year-old man.

Bonfoey, discussing the issue in general terms, said the cases are 
hard to make.

"It has to be the proximate cause of death," he said. "You have to 
prove that the person supplied that particular drug, and that 
particular drug caused the death."

District Attorney Jeff Hunt, whose office will handle the charges in 
Henderson County, could not be reached on Wednesday. But McDonald 
said the prosecutor has been supportive.
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