'BAD HEROIN' BLAMED IN FATAL OVERDOSES

Deaths Traced To Drugs Bought In Trenton

TRENTON -- It has killed hundreds of people nationwide and now,
authorities say, it is in the Mercer County area.

The "it" in question is fentanyl-laced heroin.

Several recent overdose deaths in Bucks County, Pa., have been traced
to fentanyl-laced heroin purchased on Trenton streets, and the drug
is suspected in the deaths of at least seven drug users in Trenton
and other overdose deaths elsewhere in Mercer County, authorities
said yesterday.

Among the deaths law enforcement officials think may have been caused
by the so-called "bad heroin" is that of a 38-year-old woman found
dead in a bathtub inside a home on Garfield Avenue in Trenton on
Thursday afternoon.

Lt. Bill Straniero, commander of the Special Investigations Unit from
the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office, said he and detectives from
his team are scheduled to meet in Trenton on Tuesday with city police
and representatives of the Bucks County District Attorney's Office to
discuss the growing use of the fatal drug in the area.

Fentanyl, a drug first synthesized in Belgium in the late 1950s, is
about 80 times more potent than morphine. It is used in the medical
field as an anesthesia and pain killer, according to the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration's Web site.

But in recent years, heroin manufacturers in Mexico have been using
fentanyl as a cutting agent, Straniero said. He said some drug users
seek out fentanyl-laced heroin because it produces a far greater high
than heroin cut with other materials.

But, he cautioned, just a very small amount of fentanyl can be deadly.

Not only are hard-core drug users dying, but unsuspecting users are
being killed by fentanyl-laced heroin because there is no way with
the naked eye to determine if heroin has been cut with fentanyl,
Straniero said.

"Fentanyl-laced heroin is a dangerous, deadly, nasty thing," he said.
"We're looking to tackle this problem head-on."

He said authorities in Bucks County have, through toxicology tests,
determined that several recent overdose deaths in Bucks County towns
were caused by heroin laced with fentanyl. Investigators have traced
the heroin back to Trenton, he said.

Trenton police, meanwhile, announced yesterday that detectives are
investigating if fentanyl-laced heroin is to blame in the deaths of
seven drug users in the city during the last two months.

Detective Sgt. Pedro Medina, a city police spokesman, said detectives
are reaching out to area hospitals and authorities in Camden and
Philadelphia -- where dozens of drug users have been killed recently
by fentanyl heroin -- for help in investigating the deaths.

At the moment, he said, police have no conclusive proof that the
potent mixture was involved in the city deaths. He said detectives
are still awaiting the results of toxicology tests and other exams
carried out during the victims' autopsies.

"We are not sure if there is any connection, but were are exploring
all avenues," Medina said.

In Thursday's death, Medina said, police found evidence of heroin
drug use at the scene.

The 38-year-old woman, whose name was withheld by authorities pending
notification of her next of kin, was found in a bathtub by her friend
inside a house in the 300 block of Garfield Avenue about 4:15 p.m.,
Medina said.

The friend called 911, and city police and a Trenton Emergency
Medical Service ambulance crew responded. He said the woman was
pronounced dead at the scene.

The woman's body was removed by the Mercer County Medical Examiner's
Office and an autopsy will be performed, he said, adding that anyone
with information on the death should call the city's confidential tip
line at (609) 989-3663.

Fentanyl-laced heroin deaths have been occurring at an alarming rate
across the county, including dozens in Camden, Philadelphia and New York.

Earlier this week, the county prosecutor's office announced that a
17-year-old Hightstown High School student died in his East Windsor
home on Aug. 26 of a suspected heroin overdose, however, no other
details were made public.

In late July, a 38-year-old man was found dead in his home on
Davidson Mill Road in South Brunswick, and township police, saying
they believed he died of a heroin overdose, were investigating if he
had used fentanyl-laced heroin.

"Illicit use of pharmaceutical fentanyls first appeared in the
mid-1970s in the medical community and continues to be a problem in
the United States. To date, over 12 different analogues of fentanyl
have been produced clandestinely and identified in the U.S. drug
traffic," according to the DEA Web site.