Death Toll Climbs as Fentanyl-Laced Heroin ODs Spread

[Alfa]

NEW RASH OF DEADLY HEROIN OVERDOSES
As word circulated this week of people passing out from potent heroin on Chicago's South Side, drug users didn't recoil with fear, police said.
They turned out in droves for a taste.
By the end of Wednesday, 25 people between the ages of 17 and 73 had overdosed, including a 51-year-old woman who died at her home.
"It's a sad commentary when people are racing to a place they know may overdose them," Police Supt. Philip Cline said Thursday.
With 66 heroin overdoses since August, including 11 deaths, police announced they are teaming with federal officials to try disrupting the drug's flow into the city and to staunch the street deals plaguing the South and West Sides.
Though there are close to 250 fatal drug overdoses in Chicago every year, officials said, incidents involving heroin are becoming more concentrated. Fifteen of Wednesday's overdoses happened near the Ida B. Wells public housing complex. In February, 10 people died near the Dearborn Homes after taking heroin that, authorities said, was cut with Fentanyl, a prescription drug often used in anesthesia.
Though Fentanyl is believed to be contributing to most of the heroin overdoses, Cline said, it is unclear if the drugs passed out Wednesday were cut with the substance or if they were simply extremely potent doses.
What is known about Wednesday's outbreak is that samples were being given out in pink baggies in the 500 block of East Browning Avenue and at 64th Street and Ashland Avenue, Cline said.
Officers arrested seven people suspected of distributing the drugs, including someone bragging to locals that he would "have some good stuff to pass out," Cline said. Charges have not been filed.
"All of these incidents have one thing in common: gangs and gang turf," Cline said.
On Wednesday, Alberta Morris was found about 4:15 p.m. at her home in the 7000 block of South Racine Avenue, police said. Morris was pronounced dead at 9:40 p.m. Wednesday by the Cook County medical examiner's office.
It is unclear when or where she obtained her drugs, Cline said, but her story was invoked as officials cautioned against buying drugs or taking free samples.
"What you think you are buying and what you are actually getting are two very different things," said Terry Mason, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health. "You're completely at the mercy of the person who sold you or gave you the drug."
Fentanyl is about 100 times more potent than heroin, Mason said, causing spasms in the rib cage that can prevent breathing. Officials believe heroin is coming into Chicago already cut with Fentanyl.
Dan Bigg, director of the Chicago Recovery Alliance, said it is common for people to flock to potent drugs because they expect they can handle the strength while getting an extreme and cost-effective high.
"If you're out there trying to sustain a habit, the more milligrams of heroin you can get, the better off you'll be," Bigg said.
Though people passing out might seem like an obvious reason to stay away, they are actually good advertising for the dealers, he said.
"It doesn't take much effort to get a little Fentanyl and see people pass out and get some publicity. And all [dealers] care about is the publicity," Bigg said.

Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)

[no0b]

that's why i love texas, we never get powdered heroin, just straight up mexican diesel.
- i mean, it'd be nice to cop some and have a nice suprise like fentanyl in it but damn not like this. what are the dealers thinking when they do dumb shit like that? you're suppose to gain clientele, not kill them all before they get a chance to come back :I

i live in a pretty big city and never ran into people just handing out drugs like that either . must be nice

[IHrtHalucingens]

Just another reason to legalize and federally regulate drugs. Dont they see the trend of more people being killed by cutting agents and impurities than by the actual drug itself. I guess thats just one statistic they dont record.

[jduba]

Not sure whats going on but in VA there has been a huge rise in H and molly. everywhere you go someone is throwing it in your face. Two weathermen swim knows are heavy users (where) until one OD'ed in the local area, losing his job and making all type of headlines. H is shit! swim wishs some fucking good skunk and blotter would hit the scene

[Lunar Loops]

This article from today's Detroit Free Press:
Alert escalates on drug mix: 'Too many dying'


May 26, 2006
BY BEN SCHMITT and KIM NORRIS
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
As metro Detroit officials braced for what could be a deadly Memorial Day weekend, a dozen drug abuse counselors fanned out across the city Thursday to warn users about a fatal mix of drugs laced with a pain medication that is suspected in the deaths of as many as 33 people in the past week.
With federal agents chasing down leads to the source of the drugs and investigators combing through autopsies and toxicology reports, the counselors deployed in hopes of alerting people to the dangers of the fentanyl-laced drugs suspected in more than 100 deaths in metro Detroit since September.
In recent days, that number has surged -- officials in Wayne County said Thursday 10 drug deaths occurred Tuesday, up from four reported a day before -- as health officials and police struggled to react to the distribution of a mix dealers are marketing as "drop dead" and "suicide packets."
"The idea that it is deadly potent could be a come-on for the dyed-in-the-wool drug addict," said Dr. Calvin Trent, director of Detroit's Bureau of Substance Abuse, which is part of the city's Health Department.
Another concern is whether less hard-core users of heroin and cocaine will try the fentanyl-added mix in search of a stronger high.
"This is not the time to be going to the streets and buying a recreational bag of drugs," Trent said. "This is one of the most serious issues we've dealt with and we're not sure if the community is taking it seriously."
On Thursday afternoon, Edward Aniapam, coordinator of special services for the substance abuse bureau, visited eight Detroit shelters as part of a coordinated effort to pass out information warning about the fatal mix.
"We need you to help us spread the word," Aniapam told a group of about 30 people at the Detroit Rescue Mission shelter on Third Street. "There are too many people dying. You may think: 'Gimme some of this bad stuff. I'll do just a little bit and it won't kill me.' Please, this is killing people."
Down the street, at the Neighborhood Services Organization shelter, people said word is out about the high-powered mix.
"We hear the drug is used for cancer," Robert Nesbitt, 56, said as he rolled homemade cigarettes in a tray. "It's genocide, in my opinion. Someone should have spoke up about this a long time ago."
Outside of the shelter, a group of men and women sipped from beer bottles and smoked marijuana before Aniapam approached them.
"Take these flyers, man," he said. "We've got something bad going on."
'We have some good leads'
As drug counselors tried to spread the word, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials said Thursday they were tracking information that could lead to the sources of the heroin and cocaine that is mixed with the painkiller, typically given to terminally ill patients. The officials said their investigation could last at least two more weeks.
The source of the drug itself, however, is still unknown -- possibly a clandestine lab or a rogue pharmacist.
"We have some good leads," said Carolyn Gibson, a DEA spokeswoman. She did not elaborate.
The DEA has been working with its offices in Camden, N.J., Philadelphia and Chicago, where other cases of fentanyl-laced heroin have been identified, in hopes of figuring out whether those cities were supplied from the same source.
Although those cities have experienced problems with fentanyl, the number has paled in comparison with the death toll now being investigated in Detroit.
The DEA first identified fentanyl mixed with other drugs in Michigan last November when investigators bought heroin off the street to test it -- a practice aimed at monitoring the spread of the drug.
The recent surge has been so serious that investigators from the Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have come to Detroit to try to re-create the events that led to the suspected fentanyl deaths, CDC spokeswoman Bernadette Burden said.
So far, they have not had anything to report.
Teresa Blossom, a Wayne County spokeswoman, said there have been 33 drug-related deaths in Wayne County since May 18. Although toxicology reports, which take weeks to complete, will be needed to determine how many are fentanyl-related, the majority of the 106 drug deaths in Wayne County from September through March were linked to fentanyl mixed with heroin or cocaine. That leads officials to believe the recent surge is related to fentanyl as well.
Blossom said the county would not release the names of the people who have died, because the investigation is ongoing.
Deaths from the drug are not just a Wayne County or Detroit issue, however.
Oakland County chief forensic toxicologist Gary Kunsman said Thursday the county has tentatively identified 28 fentanyl-related deaths since late September. In Macomb County, medical examiner Daniel Spitz said he has seen more fatal drug overdoses in recent weeks, but so far just one has been linked to fentanyl, and it wasn't mixed with either heroin or cocaine.
John Roach, a spokesman for the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, said the majority of the special operations unit is investigating the suspected fentanyl cases.
"Much of that is interviewing people we know or have contacted before that are known heroin users," he said. "It's a street-level approach we are taking."
Quick treatment is crucial
Officials said those who overdose can be saved if they get to an emergency room immediately.
"This can be treated: The key is looking for signs that include dizziness, trouble breathing or an inability to walk and talk," said Michele Reid, medical director of the Detroit-Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency and chairwoman of the newly created Wayne County fentanyl work group.
Asked why anyone would willingly take the more powerful drug, Dr. Michael Boyle, medical director of Henry Ford Health System's Maplegrove Center, a West Bloomfield drug treatment facility, said simply: "To feel good."
"An addict will go to any lengths to feel good," he said.
And the knowledge that a drug has a potentially deadly ingredient will not stop addicts, particularly if that ingredient promises an even better high.
"There are two mechanisms in play," Boyle said. "One is denial: 'It will not happen to me.' The other is thinking: 'They took too much. I'm going to take less.' "
Getting the word out to users is not an issue, he said.
"Heroin addicts are aware better than you or I what's going on out there," Boyle said.

[BlueMystic]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT

Bad Heroin Sparks a Series of Overdoses

By SARAH KARUSH
Associated Press Writer

DETROIT (AP) -- 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 believe 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 addition, 23 suspected cases were reported in April and May.

"This is a huge, huge problem," said Stephen Marcus, medical director of the New Jersey Poison Control Center.

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.

"Sometimes divining what the role of fentanyl is in an individual's death is more an art than a science," Schmidt said, noting that drug users often have multiple substances in their blood.

Still, it was clear something was amiss when 12 people died of overdoses May 18-19, Schmidt said. In total, there have been 41 drug-related deaths since May 18, said Teresa Blossom, a spokeswoman for the Detroit-Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency. The county of 2 million typically sees two to three drug deaths a day.

The drug kills by inhibiting respiration, Schmidt said. "It literally suppresses your natural impulse to breathe," he said.

Before the recent surge, Wayne County saw 20 to 30 fentanyl deaths a year, Schmidt said. Those cases tended to be severely ill people with legitimate prescriptions who committed suicide or people who had stolen the drug, he said.

The fentanyl behind the current problem appears to be manufactured illegally and mixed with heroin long before it gets to the user, Schmidt said.

In one case, three people found dead in a car last month took fentanyl not with heroin but with cocaine. Schmidt said he fears that could indicate a new trend.

Organizations that run needle exchanges and other health programs for drug users are trying to spread the word. Officials emphasize there is help for people who have overdosed if they get to an emergency room immediately.

But to some drug users, the warnings are an advertisement.

"When they hear about people OD'ing somewhere, they want to go there" to get the more potent drugs, said Larry, the Detroit heroin user.

Like Larry, 37-year-old Latonja said she would do her best to stay away from the tainted heroin by sticking to dealers she knows. However, she acknowledged it may be difficult, because users can never know for sure what they're buying.

"We're not analyzers when we're trying to shoot our dope," said Latonja, of Detroit, who also asked that her last name not be used. "We're like, 'OK, it's time to get happy.'"

[BlueMystic]

TAINTED DRUGS GOING NATIONWIDE

David Heinzmann and Jeff Coen, Tribune staff reporters
Chicago Tribune (IL)
Tue, 23 May 2006

As Chicago police continue investigating heroin dealers lacing their drugs with the deadly painkiller Fentanyl, federal officials are trying to determine whether the outbreak of the drug is part of an emerging national problem.

Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent two investigators to Detroit at the request of Michigan health officials to look into the more than 100 Fentanyl-related deaths there since last fall, said CDC spokeswoman Bernadette Burden. It is the first time the CDC has been called to investigate Fentanyl use, Burden said.

"This is new territory," she said.

In addition to Chicago and Detroit, New Jersey and Philadelphia also have had a series of fatal overdoses in recent weeks. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has begun testing samples in controlled purchases from targeted areas here and in other hot spots to determine if they can be linked to a common source, officials said.

"Samples are being tested to see if we can determine if it's pharmaceutical grade or from a clandestine laboratory," said Special Agent Christopher Hoyt of the DEA in Chicago.

"Whenever we're coming across it, it's being tested."

Fentanyl is a prescription drug often used in anesthesia and pain management.

Investigators say the drug, which can be 100 times stronger than heroin, probably comes from multiple sources.

Some of the drug that ends up peddled on the street is stolen from pharmaceutical supply chains. Police are still investigating a May 1 theft of Fentanyl from Resurrection Hospital on the Northwest Side.

But much of the drug is believed to come from illegal labs operated by traffickers.

"We know it comes up from the Mexican border," said Frank Limon, chief of the department's organized crime division. But "it's kind of mixed. We've got the lab-based stuff, and we have the legitimate stuff that is prescribed for someone and is sitting in a cabinet somewhere" when it is stolen.

Two weeks ago Chicago police raided a house on the West Side looking for Fentanyl after several people overdosed in the area earlier in the day.

A gun and ammunition were recovered at the house in the 1000 block of North Iowa Street, but the real target of the raid--Sidney Peterson and a stash of Fentanyl-laced heroin--were not there, police and prosecutors said.

Peterson was arrested with the tainted heroin three days later, however, when officers spotted him driving nearby, prosecutors said.

The bust was part of a broad investigation that has included several arrests and seizures since the latest outbreak in Chicago last month.

"We're trying to leverage anybody in custody" to give up information about the Fentanyl supply, Limon said.

Since April 2005 there have been 42 Fentanyl-related fatal overdoses in Cook County, with 30 in Chicago, police said.

The largest outbreak this year occurred between April 13 and April 19, mostly on the South Side. Police have submitted 43 samples of heroin for forensic testing from that investigation, and so far, four samples tested positive for Fentanyl, Limon said. He said 19 samples are still being evaluated.

The problem in Chicago is cyclical, said Hoyt. Investigators believe that drug dealers occasionally introduce the drug into their heroin supply in order to spark new demand among heavy drug users looking for more potent heroin, police said.

"The only problem is it's killing more of their customers," Hoyt said.

[Abrad]

Press Release

More than 100 deaths in Detroit area traced back to drugs mixed with fentanyl.

(PRWEB) May 30, 2006 -- Narcotic painkillers are some of the most addictive and damaging drugs on the market. These can range from drugs like oxycodone and vicodin to heroin and methadone. One prescription drug in this category that has recently made headlines is fentanyl, which is said to be 80 times more powerful than morphine.

Officials in the Detroit area claimed there have been 106 drug-related deaths near the city between September and March and most of them were linked to fentanyl mixed with other drugs. There were 33 such deaths in the past week and many are suspected of being the result of the same deadly combination of drugs.

Reports surfaced before the weekend that area drug counselors were trying to get the word out on the street about the deadlier drug combination being sold, while at the same time the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was working to track down the source of the mixture. Although Detroit has been the hardest hit, evidence of similar occurrences has been found in Atlanta, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia and other places as well.

According to the DEA, fentanyl was first synthesized in Belgium in the late 1950s, and because of its potency prescriptions are typically for very small amounts administered orally or through a patch for severe pain.

Today there are several variations of the drug, called analogues, some of which are produced clandestinely and can be hundreds of times more powerful than heroin. Like many narcotic painkillers, this drug has been abused on the street for decades, but unaware users are not prepared for the severe effects.

“Your heart goes out to the people dealing with the loss of a loved one, especially in this situation,” says Erica, who is a former heroin addict turned drug counselor. “I wish there was more that we could do to help, but making people aware of the problem, and that there is a solution to drug addiction overall, can at least benefit those looking for a way out and seeking help for loved ones.”

Erica is an executive at Narconon Arrowhead, which is one of the nation’s largest and most successful drug rehabilitation and education centers. The program does not use any substitute drugs to treat addiction and applies the effective modality researched and developed by American author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard to assist people in overcoming addiction.

For more information about different types of drugs or how to get help for a loved one in need, contact Narconon Arrowhead today by visiting www.stopaddiction.com or calling 1-800-468-6933.

Reputation Comments on this post:

good artikel

[BlueMystic]

http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...LE03/606010373

Fentanyl made in illegal labs

Chemical tests show pain drug suspected in overdose deaths wasn't made same way as prescription forms.

Brad Heath and Joel Kurth
The Detroit News
Thursday, June 01, 2006

Doses of the painkiller fentanyl, thought to be the cause of dozens of drug overdose deaths in Metro Detroit in the past two weeks, appear to have been made illegally in underground laboratories, people familiar with an expanding police investigation said Wednesday.

The findings are based on chemical tests that indicate the fentanyl -- a powerful pain medication -- was not made the same way as the prescription forms of the drug, said Calvin Trent, director of the Detroit Bureau of Substance Abuse. He and others said investigators laid out those findings at a meeting with health officials Wednesday morning, though they offered few details.

"They've confirmed it's being clandestinely manufactured, but not in the Detroit or Wayne County area," Trent said. "It appears that the fentanyl was not made here or mixed here, but it was brought here and sold here."

Authorities suspect the painkiller, mixed with either heroin or cocaine, is to blame for a spike in drug overdose deaths involving 50 people in Wayne County during the past two weeks, including two on Wednesday.

They will not be able to definitively link the deaths to fentanyl until they complete toxicology tests, which can take several weeks. Since January 2005, the county has confirmed 130 fentanyl overdose deaths.

Other cases have been conirmed from Philadelphia to Chicago; a handful have been reported elsewhere in Michigan.

"There's still a lot of questions, but all evidence points to it being a mix that came onto the street from illegal networks," said Dr. Mark Greenwald, a Wayne State University psychiatry professor who is part of a task force of health officials and others assembled to respond to the overdoses.

Police seizures of the lethal cocktail in Detroit indicate it comes in varying strains, Greenwald said. Some drug mixes contained mostly fentanyl and some heroin; in others, the ratio was reversed.. Experts said prescription versions of fentanyl are chemically different from illegally produced versions and that tests can tell the two apart.

Carolyn Gibson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said investigators won't say conclusively the drugs were illegally manufactured until all their tests are complete.

"We'd be premature in saying it's 100 percent definite, but that's what it's looking like," she said. Police in Philadelphia, where fentanyl has been blamed for about 40 deaths over two months, said they also suspect the drug was made illegally and that it was mixed into packets of heroin before reaching the city. They think all originated from one shipment of tainted heroin that was distributed to cities in the Northeast and Midwest, Philadelphia Police Lt. Pat Quinn said.

Illegal fentanyl labs have been around for at least 20 years, but are exceedingly rare because the process requires advanced knowledge of chemistry, said Tom Abercrombie, an Oakland, Calif., crime laboratory criminalist supervisor, who has investigated two such labs.

[Citizen Kane]

Jun 4, 2006 8:31 pm US/Eastern

Pittsburgh Police Investigate Rash Of Heroin ODs

(KDKA) PITTSBURGH Pittsburgh Police are trying to track down the source of what's being called a deadly batch of high grade heroin that has killed one man and caused as many as 18 others to overdose within the last 24 hours.

The first reports of overdoses from the super potent heroin came in one after another late Saturday.

“We’ve had at least four reportable accidents involving overdoses, including one overdose inside a home,” said Pittsburgh Police Sgt. Wayne Volberg.

One of the alleged heroin related crashes happened in the 700 block of Hazelwood Avenue.

Police confiscated several syringes and suspected heroin stamp bags.

The situation got worse Sunday morning. On Greenfield Avenue paramedics found two men believed to be overdosed on heroin. Joseph Zielinski, 45, of Verona, died, according to city police.

By late Sunday afternoon, some 18 heroin overdoses were reported.

Pittsburgh Police think the deadly drug is coming out of the Hazelwood section of the city.

The toxic makeup of the drug is still a mystery to authorities. Pittsburgh Police say they think the heroin is either unusually pure or another drug has been added in.


Source:
http://kdka.com/topstories/local_story_155191231.html

Reputation Comments on this post:

good art

[Nagognog2]

This recent rash of OD's from heroin has been all over the US news in the last few days, as well as touched upon here in these forums. The OD's are not isolated to western Pennsylvania, but have been reported all over the Midwestern states.

According to tests conducted on the suspected heroin, it had been cut with fentanyl - an extremely potent synthetic narcotic/analgesic.

Users of heroin are advised to be extra cautious about their sources until this potentially lethal batch has been weeded from the supply-lines.

[Citizen Kane]

Originally Posted by Nagognog2

This recent rash of OD's from heroin has been all over the US news in the last few days, as well as touched upon here in these forums. The OD's are not isolated to western Pennsylvania, but have been reported all over the Midwestern states.

According to tests conducted on the suspected heroin, it had been cut with fentanyl - an extremely potent synthetic narcotic/analgesic.

Thank you for this valuable piece of information. I actually had wondered what really had been sold but couldn't find much about it. However, in the meantime I discovered this article:

Death Rate Continues to Grow from Deadly Mix of Drugs

A wave of fatal overdoses has police in Michigan on alert. Dozens of people have died from heroin or cocaine laced with a powerful narcotic. At a needle exchange program in downtown Detroit, a warning to heroin users their next fix may kill them.

Fentanyl, a synthetic prescription opiate, is eighty times more powerful than morphineits being dealt on the streets, and users are dying at alarming rates.

Harry Simpson, community health awareness group "We've never seen overdose rates like this before, and certainly we've never seen them related to Fentanyl."

In Detroit over the Memorial Day weekend, there were 23 deaths from heroin or cocaine laced with Fentanyl. That's in addition to 106 deaths there since last September. Word is out among heroin users, like Dee, who didn't want us to show her face. Her arms are badly scarred from years of abuse. She cant stop using, but she's scared.

Dee, heroin addict: "I don't want to die, I don't want to be another statistic."

And it reaches beyond Detroit. In Philadelphia, health officials confirm 20 deaths from Fentanyl mixed with heroin since April. In Chicago, 23 suspected cases, New Jersey, Atlanta and New York also report many recent deaths.

Fentanyl is used commonly is hospitals in very small doses for anesthetic or as a pain reliever, but in larger doses, it stops breathing. Narcotics officers are trying to figure out where the deadly doses are coming from.
Lawrence Meyer, Wayne County Sheriffs Dept.: "We're working in cooperation with federal and city agencies, and were trying to determine where the source is."

Dealers who peddle Fentanyl could ultimately be charged with murder, and addicts are being warned their highs could ultimately be short lived.


Source:
http://www.wlns.com/Global/story.asp?S=4979194&nav=0RbQ

Originally Posted by Nagognog2

Users of heroin are advised to be extra cautious about their sources until this potentially lethal batch has been weeded from the supply-lines.

Indeed. This can't be over-emphasized. Sad is only that all these deaths could have been avoided if Heroin would be decriminalized and pharmaceutically prepared.

[Citizen Kane]

Heroin Users Warned About Deadly Additive

By Peter Slevin and Kari Lydersen
Washington Post Staff Writers

Sunday, June 4, 2006; Page A07

CHICAGO -- The largest clue that something had changed in Chicago's vibrant heroin market came in February, when police found a dozen users sprawled unconscious in one place. One day in April, there were dozens more.

Toxicologists at the Cook County morgue discovered fentanyl, a powerful painkiller many times stronger than morphine, in the bodies of addicts who died. A small amount of fentanyl in a dose of heroin adds a pop that many users have come to crave.

"It's a new phenomenon. It's the latest high," said Chicago police spokeswoman Monique Bond, "but it's deadly. "

Since February, coroners have recorded 55 fentanyl-related deaths in Cook County, with 45 more cases suspected. Some were unsuspecting users taking pure fentanyl; others were users taking a mixture. Scores overdosed but recovered -- and not all regretted using it.

"There's this consumer arc. At first there's fear, but then when the fear is over, it's like: Hey, that's good stuff," said Greg Scott, a DePaul University sociologist who conducts government-funded research on injected drugs. "Most so-called street addicts can't afford more than what they're already doing, so fentanyl gives you that little extra bump. People are scouting for it."

Authorities have spotted the practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and it appears most serious in Detroit, where authorities suspect that more than 175 people have died in recent months from fentanyl-related overdoses. The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating. Federal and local authorities are convening a workshop in Chicago next week to learn more.

"It's baptism by fire here," Scott said.

The Chicago Recovery Alliance runs a weekly needle exchange and barbecue in a bus parking lot in Cicero, just outside city boundaries. At recent sessions, the organization has been warning users about the dangers and teaching them how to distinguish the mint green-tinged fentanyl-laced heroin from the typical Chicago drug, which tends to be yellowish or dusty brown.

"We tell them: If it's green, you shouldn't use it," said Cheryl Hull, the group's deputy director of operations, who reported that at least seven clients have died. Staffers have been urging users to be far more vigilant and to get high in twos or threes, never alone.

Cathy Piotrowski, who showed up for last week's barbecue, said she has overdosed four times on a fentanyl-heroin mix.

"You do it, then bam, you're just right out. You don't remember anything," said Piotrowski, 42, who reported taking three hits of heroin a day. "I'm warning people about it, saying this stuff is going around, so be careful."
Despite the obvious dangers, the quest for a bigger and better high is driving users to find the more potent fentanyl-heroin blend. Universal laws of marketing and sales are similarly driving the pushers to supply it, authorities said. Even the police unwittingly contributed to the phenomenon.

"The dealers were passing out free samples to attract users," police spokeswoman Bond said. "The police department was trying to be proactive by alerting the public about the bad heroin, but we were providing free marketing, basically providing a road map."

Scott, the DePaul sociologist, said four of the five heroin-dealing crews he is tracking are now selling the drug laced with fentanyl. They sell more dope in what is a competitive market, he said, and make more money. The users, especially those who can afford only a limited amount of heroin even as their tolerance grows through habitual use, see a way to get higher.
"For the same amount of money, you can get a product that's, let's say, 10 times more potent," Scott said.

Frankie is a 43-year-old homeless man who did not want to give his last name. He said he overdosed late last month on fentanyl-laced heroin he got for free on Chicago's Southwest Side. Police took him to the hospital. A former amateur boxer, he likened the effect to being slugged in the head and knocked out.

To him, the freebies did not make much sense.

"They were handing it out," he said, "but why kill your new customers?"


Source:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...060300602.html

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nice article.!.

[Nagognog2]

Drug Czar Announces Bad Heroin Supply Bust


CHICAGO - U.S. agents, working in cooperation with the Mexican government, have closed down a lab in Mexico that might be the main source of a powerful painkiller that has killed at least 100 heroin users in eight states, the federal drug czar said Monday.
John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said it's still not clear whether the painkiller, fentanyl, was mixed with heroin at the lab in Mexico or after it entered the United States.

"There may be more than one source," Walters said. "We think this is the principal source."

Five people were arrested during the May bust, including one Walters described as "the chemist." He referred specific questions to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, which declined to provide details immediately.

Walters said that the dealers may have started using Fentanyl because they were looking for a competitive advantage on the street, but that inept mixing - or cutting - of the drug combination made it deadly.

He also warned that millions of deadly doses of the fentanyl-laced heroin might still be on the streets. Fentanyl-laced cocaine had turned up in some cities, as well, he said.

Deaths caused by fentanyl-laced drugs have occurred in Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, Walters said.

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	good art

[Fantasian]

Deadly heroin mix tightens grip on city

Across Chicago, police and hospitals are racing to curb a surge in fatal overdoses, many of them linked to a potent blend of the drug and a powerful painkiller

By David Heinzmann, Carlos Sadovi and Tonya Maxwell, Tribune staff reporters. Tribune staff reporters Brendan McCarthy and Gerry Doyle contributed to this report
Published June 8, 2006


Hospitals and outreach workers are struggling against a surge of fatal heroin overdoses in Chicago, as word has spread that more potent, though deadly, drugs have hit the street.

Police were linking 14 deaths on Monday and Tuesday to heroin overdoses, an alarming toll that shows the drug's broad reach into society.

A 17-year-old son of a Franklin Park police official died in the back seat of his car Tuesday, still clutching the small packet of heroin he had just bought on the West Side, police said. That same day, a 39-year-old mother from Lombard collapsed after shooting up the drug and later died in a West Side hospital. Also among the dead were a day laborer and a union worker from Chicago.

Police are trying to determine whether these deaths should be added to a list of 60 people who have died this year in Cook County from a deadly combination of heroin and the powerful painkiller fentanyl. The most recent rash of deaths, centered on the West Side, may be one of the largest clusters of fentanyl-related deaths since investigators have been tracking the problem.

Officials say the synthetic narcotic, used legally for pain management, is being added to heroin to give a more powerful high to users.

"Most people have heard the stories. They just think it's good heroin. They think the media and the police and the doctors and nurses just don't want them to have it," said Chuck Thomas, chairman of emergency medicine at Norwegian-American Hospital on the West Side.

Over the last several months, Thomas said there has been a spike in overdose victims in the hospital's emergency room. The hospital typically had one or two overdose victims a day, but in the last few months, "We're seeing 10, 15, 20 a day."

Thomas said the hospital was recently given approval from executives to order the narcotic Revex, a much more powerful antidote to what is typically used in heroin overdoses.

As hospitals scramble to save lives, outreach workers are warning drug users to steer clear of the potent fentanyl-laced heroin. But for those who don't, outreach workers also educate them on what to do in case of heroin overdoses.

Susie Gualtieri, with the Chicago Recovery Alliance, said they show drug users videos with step-by-step instructions and dispense vials of the drug naloxone.

The heroin causes you to "relax to death," she said. "What [naloxone] does is it blocks your receptors from feeling the heroin," she said.

Meanwhile, local police are making undercover buys of heroin, to track where fentanyl is being sold, and testing the samples for clues to the drug's source. Their federal counterparts focus on trafficking--tracing the drug's routes into Midwestern and East Coast cities, most likely from Mexican labs.

The rise in deaths over the last few days has been alarming for police, and it has meant heartbreak for families across the Chicago area, from Englewood to Park Ridge.

Joseph Krecker, the son of Franklin Park Deputy Chief Jack Krecker, graduated from Maine South High School on Sunday. Two days later, he was found dead on the Northwest Side in the back seat of his car. He was about halfway between his Park Ridge home and the street-corner drug markets of the West Side.

"The stuff must have been so powerful that it killed him instantly," said Frank Limon, chief of the Chicago Police Department's organized crime division.

Keith Lee got a phone call about 10 a.m. Tuesday telling him his brother's body had been found in an alley near Kedzie Avenue and Huron Street.

Craig Lee, 45, did odd jobs and worked as a day laborer, his brother said.

"He was always saying he was going to stop. The last time was last year," Lee said. The family's funeral plans for his brother will have to wait for toxicology tests to tell investigators if the drugs that killed him were tainted with fentanyl, he said.

While many addicts are drawn by the lure of fentanyl's dangerous potency, some addicts who believe they've survived brushes with the drug say they are staying away.

Catherine Wrencher is a 36-year-old longtime heroin addict. She said she believes the terrifying episode she had in recent weeks was due to fentanyl.

"I couldn't breathe and I started spitting up blood," she said.

Wrencher called 911 before she passed out, she said, and was revived by EMS workers. She said she wants nothing more to do with fentanyl, but short of stopping her drug use, the decision is not within her control, she said.

"Now that [expletive] is everywhere. You don't know what you've got until you do it," she said.

Phil Thorn, 50, and Jaime Salinas, 28, said they heard about a more potent heroin in January and went with a group of people to buy $10 bags on the South Side.

After shooting up in his Cicero apartment, Thorn said the others got sick and passed out.

"It was right away, as soon as they injected, they were dropping, within a minute," said Thorn, who said he was able to administer naloxone and revive them.

Salinas said he knew the drug was different from anything he had ever tried. "I had tunnel vision and I felt real light-headed. On heroin you get high, not light-headed and no tunnel vision," he said.

Ever since that night, he said, he goes to the same dealers because he trusts their drugs.

Thorn, a heroin addict for 10 years, said he promised himself he wouldn't use heroin that he knew was laced with fentanyl. But he said the withdrawal pains that come 12 hours after using heroin may be too strong.

"I'm a dope fiend and I'll probably do it, but I'll be very careful," he said. "It's not a matter of getting high anymore, it's about not being sick."

Source - Chicago Tribune.

[rxbandit]

KEY ARREST IN KILLER HEROIN SPREE

Police made a key arrest Thursday in their investigation into the deadly drugs hitting the streets, nabbing a West Side dealer who could lead to a supplier of fentanyl-laced heroin that has killed more than 60 people in Cook County.

Chicago Police have so far rounded up more than 100 suspected dealers during their two-month probe, but Thursday's arrest of an alleged gang member is considered the most significant so far.

"This is one of our best leads to track how this fentanyl is coming in and being put on the heroin," said a source familiar with the arrest.

A small dose of fentanyl is in the circle, officials say. Mixed with heroin, it has caused more than 60 Cook County deaths. ( RICHARD A. CHAPMAN/ SUN-TIMES )

The 26-year-old suspect, a member of the Vice Lords, was operating drug sales on the West Side near Lavergne, Cicero and Huron, sources said. Chicago Police and federal law enforcement reportedly were led to him after he started selling heroin to young adults -- and some teens -- from far southwest suburban Lemont.

The dealer, whose identity was not released, was being questioned by investigators who were hoping to learn more about where he was getting his supply of heroin, which tests have shown was laced with fentanyl.

"It's poison," said Lemont Police Chief Kevin Shaughnessy, who credited the Chicago Police Department for making the arrest. "I would like to think there would be some person in Lemont that wouldn't be able to get that drug."

'Putting the pieces together'

Nationally, hundreds of people have died in at least eight states from using heroin or cocaine laced with fentanyl, an extremely powerful synthetic drug that kills in small doses.

Federal law enforcement officials say the fentanyl, which is manufactured for legal use as a pain-killer, is being made in a clandestine lab and mixed into the nation's illegal drug supply. A lab in Mexico where the drug might have been made was taken down in late May by authorities there.

Timothy Ogden, associate special agent in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Chicago field division, said there may well be more than one lab cranking out fentanyl.

Ogden made his remarks at the close of a two-day fentanyl conference here this week. He said investigators were still trying to understand the distribution system of the tainted drugs that have hit cities including St. Louis, Camden, N.J., and Detroit. Busts of dealers and learning where their supply is coming from will be key to figuring out why some cities have been hit so hard -- like Chicago and Detroit - -- and others have not.

"We're just putting the pieces together to figure out the pattern," Ogden said. "We're getting our hands around it."

Fentanyl-laced heroin has surfaced before, and clandestine labs in the United States have been busted in the past. But Ogden said the problem this time is more widespread and critical.

The drug is hundreds of times stronger than morphine and heroin and is deadly in even the tiniest of doses. Some users who have died from overdosing have been found with needles still in their arms.

"In almost 30 years of law enforcement, I haven't seen a threat that concerns me as much as this," Ogden said.

The outbreaks in Chicago have occurred mostly on the South and West sides, but police Supt. Phil Cline said Thursday that every district has experienced an overdose because of fentanyl.

'It can happen to anyone'

Most of the fatal overdoses in Cook County date to the beginning of the year. But an analysis by the Cook County medical examiner's office shows that deaths linked to fentanyl -- 64 as of this week -- date back to April 2005.

Victims have also died in the suburbs, from Blue Island to Cicero to Wilmette.

While there are no known fentanyl-related deaths in Lemont, the idea of the drug being sold on his streets was a great concern to Shaughnessy. He also pointed out that Lemont straddles three counties - -- Will, DuPage and Cook -- and that victims might buy in one town but die elsewhere.

Shaughnessy alerted Chicago Police a few months ago after several residents of the 14,000-person community told investigators they were going into the city to purchase from the same dealer. Shaughnessy said he hopes people realize no community is immune to a drug problem.

"This is a pristine area," he said. "It can happen to anyone."

The tainted heroin first emerged as a problem in Chicago in February after South Side detectives noticed a pattern of fatal overdoses centered around the Dearborn Homes at 29th and State.

A heroin task force was formed, and the department immediately began coordinating with the Chicago DEA office to test any confiscated drugs. So far this year, the city has experienced a 43 percent increase in non-fatal overdoses.

[Woodman]

Amid Fentanyl Deaths, Addicts Keep Using

Friday June 16, 2006 8:31 AM

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlates...890552,00.html

By MICHAEL TARM
Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO (AP) - A self-described drug addict stood by a vacant lot on the city's South Side and pointed down the block. There, he says, more than a dozen of his friends and acquaintances died after using heroin laced with a strong painkiller.

``Joe died down there, and then there was Rita, Cherlyn, Marvin died somewhere over there - and Chico there,'' said Don Howard, 59, flanked by rows of derelict buildings and a sign atop a lamppost that read, ``Chicago Blues District.''

Several miles away, police and drug enforcement officials ended two days of discussions on the possible source of the bad heroin that killed Howard's friends and at least 100 others from Chicago to Philadelphia.

``In my almost 30 years of law enforcement experience, I haven't seen a threat that concerns me this much,'' said Tim Ogden, an agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Chicago office. ``Fentanyl is a very, very potent substance.''

The summit that ended Thursday provided officials from 12 states and Washington, D.C., the chance to coordinate their investigations into the spike of fentanyl-related deaths since the beginning of this year, Ogden said at a news conference.

Fentanyl is a legally produced prescription painkiller that is 80 times stronger than morphine. But the type of fentanyl currently being mixed with heroin is most likely manufactured in illicit labs, Ogden said.

He said that just 125 micrograms of the illegal fentanyl - the equivalent of a few grains of salt - are more than enough to kill.

``I view fentanyl use as taking a six (chamber) revolver, putting five bullets in it, putting it to your temple and pulling the trigger,'' he said.

There were outbreaks of fentanyl-laced heroin in the '80s and early '90s, said Arlington, Va.-based DEA spokeswoman Mary Irene Cooper, who was in Chicago for the meeting. The difference is that the outbreaks aren't isolated this time to one city.

``We're trying to figure out why it's spreading so widely,'' she said.

Its deadliness doesn't appear to have dissuaded hardened drug addicts.

After Chicago police publicized one street corner where samples of fentanyl-laced heroin had been handed out - thinking addicts would steer clear of the area - drug users flocked there hoping to score free heroin, Police Supt. Philip Cline said.

``We have willing victims here,'' he said. ``That's part of the problem.''

In Chicago, there have been more than 60 confirmed fentanyl overdoses since April, 2005, with the vast majority of them coming this year, the DEA said. Deaths caused by fentanyl-laced drugs have also been reported in Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland.

Howard said there is less fear among many addicts than non-addicts might presume.

``Some addicts are frightened, but others aren't,'' he said. ``They just feel that if it's their time, it's their time.''

``Suicidal behavior comes from being an addict,'' agreed Francois Seets, a 58-year-old recovering addict from Chicago. ``They think they're immortal. ... And they think it (the fentanyl contamination) will pass.''

So infinitesimal are the amounts of fentanyl, Seets said, that there is virtually no way of determining whether a bag of heroin is laced with it. The fentanyl wouldn't affect the taste or look of the narcotic, he said.

``You wouldn't know it's bad until you collapse,'' he said.

Howard, who said he struggles to scrape together the $10 it costs for a small bag of heroin, said he doesn't turn down free samples of heroin - even though such samples have been linked to the recent fentanyl deaths.

But he does take precautions.

Before settling down to shoot up a sample with friends, ``I let somebody else go first to be sure,'' Howard said.

Seets said the fentanyl outbreak does serve as an inspiration to him, driving home the potentially deadly consequences of a relapse.

``It makes me understand I am mortal,'' he said.

[Alfa]

Threads merged.

[IHrtHalucingens]

(CHICAGO) – JUN 21--Drug Enforcement Administration agents and Chicago Police Department officers arrested 29 alleged members of the Mickey Cobras Street Gang who are suspected of trafficking fentanyl-laced heroin, crack cocaine, and marijuana in parts of Chicago’s Southside.

Over 400 law enforcement officers took part in the raids that seized more than 100 kilograms of heroin, 5 firearms, four vehicles, and an undetermined amount of cash. The seized heroin is being sent to a lab to confirm if it was mixed with fentanyl.

"The Mickey Cobras Street Gang had a stranglehold over the residents of the Dearborn Homes," said Timothy Ogden, Associate Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Division. "Today, we have allowed them to breath again."

“Law enforcement works best when law enforcement agencies work in a cooperative, coordinated matter. Our efforts to rid the city and suburbs of the curse of gangs, drugs and violence are – as this investigation is proving – dramatically enhanced by the synergy of the talents and resources that local and federal law enforcement can bring to the table, said Mr. Gary S. Shapiro, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

" The Chicago Police Department’s unmatched collection and analysis of gang intelligence in combination with the experience and sophisticated tools of the Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal law enforcement agencies and the formidable federal drug penalties demonstrate that we can continue to reduce the impact and dangers of gangs on everyone who must live in their midst.”

A criminal complaint unsealed today charged members and associates of the Mickey Cobras street gang, including James Austin, 29, of Akron, Ohio, the alleged Mickey Cobras’ “King,”with operating a sophisticated, long-running narcotics distribution organization. The organization controlled sales of heroin and other drugs in a large portion of the Chicago Housing Authority’s (CHA) Dearborn Homes, an 800-unit public housing development.


Over 400 law enforcement officers assembled at U.S. Cellular Park in Chicago prior to the raid.

DEA agents and Chicago police officers working together to take back the neighborhoods of Chicago.

Before today’s arrests and seizures, four kilograms of heroin, as well as approximately 309 grams of fentanyl, cash, and numerous firearms were seized or purchased during the investigation, code-named Operation Snakebite. The probe, which began in 1999 and includes agents from the Internal Revenue Service and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives as well as the DEA and CPD, is part of a sustained, coordinated effort by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to dismantle Chicago’s highly-organized, and violent, drug-trafficking street gangs. The investigation employed undercover police officers and DEA agents, numerous wiretaps, cooperating witnesses, and a steady progression of searches and seizures of evidence.

The drug distribution operation described in the complaint was notable for its scope and marketing tactics. The complaint alleges that the Mickey Cobras sold large quantities of heroin in the Dearborn Homes by marketing different brands, or “lines,” of heroin that used distinctive packaging, various recipes for mixing the heroin with other substances, and different brand names – among them “Reaper,” Penicillin,” “Drop Dead,” “Lethal Injection” and “Renegade.” According to the complaint, anyone seeking to sell a line of heroin in the portion of the Dearborn Homes controlled by the Mickey Cobras had to first obtain permission from defendant Austin and members of the Mickey Cobras “Board of Directors.” Everyone who received this permission, with the exception of the highest-ranking gang leaders, also was required to pay a street tax for permission to operate the line. According to the complaint, Austin personally ran two of the most profitable lines of heroin, “Reaper” and “Penicillin,” which generated a total of $20,000 to $25,000 per day in revenue.

Special Agent Ogden and Mr. Shapiro announced the arrests with Philip J. Cline, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department; Byram W. Tichenor, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago office of the IRS; and Andrew L. Traver, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago office of the ATF.

- 30 -

[robin_himself]

Daren Reese, 45, a suspected key supplier of fentanyl spiked heroin which has killed more than two hundred people from Detroit, Chicago to Phladelphia, was arraigned on Saturday with possession of weapons and illegal drugs.

(Arraigned = to call a defendant before a court to answer to an indictment, charge)

Reese is charged with four counts of delivering and manufacturing a controlled substance and two of carrying a weapon and body armor. Reese is from Detroit. He is in custody at Wayne County Jail.

Reese was arrested last Thursday as he attempted to sell the fentanyl/heroin cocktail, known as ‘Magic' or ‘A-1'. He was carrying 80 packets of the stuff.

Reese's laywer, Paul Curtis, accused the authorities of using him as a scapegoat. As such little progress has been made in the investigation, he accuses authorities of closing in on Reese to show that they are combating the fentanyl scare effectively.

An undercover deputy pretended to buy the spiked heroin from another person. He was also arrested. The police have not released his name.

Reese's arrest, say police, comes as a result of information from a woman who took the heroin/fentanyl dose, and managed to survive.

Reese and the unnamed suspect were selling the cocktail from the Jeffries housing project, just north of downtown Detroit. Apparently, they were working separately, say police.

What is Fentanyl?

Fentanyl is an extremely powerful painkiller available only on prescription.

It is used for ‘breakthrough' episodes of cancer pain. ‘Breakthrough pain' is a pain that flares up and breaks through the medication used by cancer patients for continuous pain. It is 80 times more powerful than morphine.

Fentanyl is one of many narcotic analgesics. Transmucosal fentanyl is used by patients who are already on narcotic analgesics.

Addicts seeking heroin should avoid this deadly cocktail at all costs. Tragically, when the police told herion addicts to steer clear of certain street corners where the cocktail had been sold, rather than move away they gathered there in the hope of collecting freebies.


www.medicalnewstoday.com

Reputation Comments on this post:

Interesting article posted here. Fentanyl mixed heroin is getting very popular. This is an up to date news breif which...

[Alfa]

This is very weird. It is hard to believe that this is happening in the USA, with it's draconian drug laws. If Daren Reese is guilty, he is responsible for the deaths of a lot of people. Maybe even hundreds. And this man is not indited for manslaughter? So it's ok to kill heroin users now?

[IHrtHalucingens]

That is kind of odd, as thye often do charge drug dealers with attempted murder for selling certain substances. But recently there have been many many arrests linked to this fentanyl cut heroin in chicago and new york. It will be interesting to see who, if anybody, gets charged with murder.

[robin_himself]

Originally Posted by robin_himself

Reese's laywer, Paul Curtis, accused the authorities of using him as a scapegoat. As such little progress has been made in the investigation, he accuses authorities of closing in on Reese to show that they are combating the fentanyl scare effectively.

I find this very confusing. How can "combating the fentanyl scare effectively" be a bad thing, and Reese is not a scapegoat he is the criminal!

[Alfa]

He may be the scapegoat. He may be just a street dealer busted with heroin, of which some turned out to be laced, who is now made into some key player in the fentanyl laced herion trade, by the police. Just to pimp up their achievement. A lot of what is printed in the media is simply untrue, overstated or sensationalised. Confusing statements like this often point to the truth.

[robin_himself]

DETROIT -- One of two men arrested in an investigation into a lethal form of heroin blamed for more than 100 deaths in the Detroit area alone was arraigned Saturday on drug possession and weapons charges.

Sheriff's deputies arrested Daren Reese on Thursday in the sale of a mix of heroin and the prescription drug fentanyl. They said he was carrying 80 packets of the drug combination known on the streets as "Magic" or "A-1."

Reese, 45, of Detroit, faces charges including four counts of delivering and manufacturing a controlled substance, and two felony weapons charges for carrying a firearm and body armor. He was being held in the Wayne County Jail on $200,000 bond.

A preliminary examination was expected in the next two weeks.

The case involving the other suspect, who authorities say sold drugs to an undercover deputy, was expected to be dealt with on Monday, Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans said Saturday. His name wasn't released.

A tip from a woman who survived a dose of the deadly drug mix last month helped police in their investigation, Evans said.

"It led us to a number of arrests prior to this one," Evans said. "It did start the chain of events that got us here."

Both men are accused of selling the drug from the Jeffries housing project north of downtown. However, they did not work together, police said.

Evans said Reese was a key distributor who had been under surveillance for nearly a week before his arrest outside of his apartment. He said the focus now is to establish a link to the deaths.

Fentanyl, a legally produced painkiller, is 80 times stronger than morphine. Officials in cities from Chicago to Philadelphia have reported deaths from the combination, more than 200 in all.

www.detnews.com