DEADLY MIX ENTICES USERS

Some addicts say publicity about overdoses from fentanyl-spiked
heroin, coke only draws them more.

It's sold on the street as "Suicide," and if the name doesn't signal
the risk, fears that it may have caused as many as 58 overdose deaths
in Wayne County since May 18 should.

But a rise in deaths linked to heroin spiked with the painkiller
fentanyl hasn't deterred some hardcore addicts from seeking the drug
with the deadly nickname. Desperate for a high that gets elusive with
time, a dedicated batch of users is turning to the cocktail whose
effects can last all day.

Addicts told The Detroit News they're trying Suicide because they
think they can manage the drug and avoid overdoses that have killed
more than 130 users in Wayne County since January 2005. The News
verified the identities of users, but agreed not to publish their last names.

"This is the biggest advertisement ever for the dope man: A drug that
gets you so (messed) up, you die," said Susan, a Bloomfield Hills
woman who has used heroin on and off for 18 years but has been clean
for a month.

That newfound high could soon end, however. Federal investigators
announced Monday they may have found the source for the drugs last
month during a raid that closed an underground lab in Mexico.

U.S. and Mexican authorities arrested five people for manufacturing a
knockoff of the drug that's prescribed to cancer patients and
described as 50 times stronger than morphine. Chemical tests will
determine if the lab was the source of drugs sold as "Suicide" in
Detroit and several Midwestern cities.

"There may be more than one source," said John Walters, director of
the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "We think
this is the principal source."

Authorities would not comment Monday on their evidence, however, and
a Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman in Chicago, Chris Hoyt,
said agents "are not ready to say the lab discovered in Mexico is
directly related to what's happening here."

"The raid in Mexico is good news, but it does nothing for the lethal
drug supply on our streets right now," said Robert Ficano, Wayne
County executive and former sheriff. "We don't know how much of this
mix is out there, and we don't know how many fentanyl sources there are."

Despite the warnings, many users have come to view Suicide as a drug
they can use occasionally, said Patti, a decade-long user from Detroit.

Unlike heroin, addicts don't need to use five or more times a day
while they're on fentanyl and don't need a fix as soon as they wake up.

"A lot of people are trying to get their hands on it," she said.
"Some people are afraid, but most want to get as high again. ... The
heroin around here hasn't been great lately. It's been hit or miss.
This is different. The first time I used it, I didn't know what it
was. I got high. It was strong."

Part of the appeal is that longtime addicts no longer get high.
Instead, heroin merely curbs nausea, tremors, diarrhea and other
withdrawal symptoms, said Dr. Mark Greenwald, a Wayne State
University psychiatry professor who conducts studies on addicts.

"This is used a lot by drug dealers as a kind of marketing," said
Garrison Courtney, a DEA spokesman. "They give it an artificial
purity. Then people see a few overdose deaths, and they're going to
flock to the area to get that brand."

Some do so with deadly consequences.

Two weeks ago, Patti said she revived a friend who overdosed on
fentanyl and heroin. The woman passed out immediately after
injecting. Friends poured ice water on her head, then ice cubes.

She began to turn blue. Desperate, after 15 minutes of failures,
Patti said she blew smoke from crack cocaine on her friend and she came to.

Patti said she still uses fentanyl.

"Everyone thinks they can take it," she said. "They're not going to
be the ones who are going to go out on it (and die.) I don't think
anyone is changing their habits."

The anecdotes seem to confirm the worst fears of drug counselors who
worried the spate of publicity about the overdoses would increase
demand. Public health officials in Wayne County have dispatched drug
treatment workers and even recovering addicts into some of the city's
drug-plagued neighborhoods to warn users.

"I don't see a lot of people who are nervous about this (outbreak,)"
said Shirlie Arrington, a program supervisor at New Light Recovery
Center methadone clinic in Detroit. "When you're doing drugs, you
don't know what you're doing until you get it."

That's the fear of Dominic, a 46-year-old mechanic from Eastpointe,
who started using heroin again last year in part because traditional
painkillers didn't ease ongoing back problems.

Dominic said he's in such pain from withdrawal that "sometimes I just
want to die" but still worries about accidentally taking fentanyl. "I
don't know if someone's out to kill you," he said. "I care in that
perspective, but I still do (heroin)."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.