BAD STREET DRUGS KILL 12

Officials Fear More Will Fall Victim To Painkiller, Cocaine, Heroin Mix

A deadly concoction of a painkiller mixed with cocaine or heroin has
killed at least 12 drug users in Detroit since Thursday and officials
fear more people could die this weekend, health officials said on Friday.

Eight deaths were reported Friday and four the day before from the
lethal mixture of the illegal drugs combined with the prescription
painkiller Fentanyl.

"We deal with about three (overdose deaths) a day so this is a
dramatic increase," said Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano.

Officials believe drug dealers are setting up labs, making the
Fentanyl and distributing the mix in Detroit, Ficano said.

The wave is similar to recent rashes of overdoses involving
Fentanyl-laced mixes that have hospitalized hundreds in other cities
and killed dozens. In Detroit and several Wayne County suburbs,
Fentanyl has been linked to 106 deaths between September and March.

Authorities are trying to get the word out to drug users who they
suspect are unaware the heroin they're buying is laced. They're
alerting media and county-run substance abuse and mental health programs.

The recent victims were found on the streets or in drug houses
throughout the city; none arrived at a hospital alive. Ficano said "a
couple" of the victims were from Oakland County. The remaining dead
were Detroiters. Ficano would not release their names.

Wayne County officials are investigating and the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention is sending officials on Monday to
examine the bodies. A health alert has been sent to Detroit
hospitals. Fentanyl, a synthetic form of morphine about 50 times more
potent, acts on the central nervous system to relieve pain. The drug
comes in injectable form or pain patches and it is typically used in
hospitals to control severe pain. A handful of victims have been
found wearing Fentanyl patches.

In Howell, Kenneth Roger Hopkins, 33, is being charged for allegedly
giving his Fentanyl prescription medication to David Michael Maybee,
36, also of Howell, who was found dead Jan. 6 on the floor of Hopkins' home.

Hopkins is being charged under a new state law that holds responsible
anyone who delivers a controlled substance to another that causes
that person's death. Conviction carries a penalty of up to life in prison.

Fentanyl is costly and difficult to find, making it an unlikely
street drug. But officials think drug pushers have found a way to
manufacture it.

Cocaine-heroin mixtures, often called speedballs, have been on the
streets for years, but adding Fentanyl is a new way to speed up the high.

"Another thing we're seeing unique to Detroit is we see Fentanyl
combined with cocaine. It's always been heroin," said Wayne County's
chief medical examiner Carl J. Schmidt.

Any of the three drugs taken in a large enough dosage can prove
fatal, since each acts on the central nervous system. Injecting
heroin lowers blood pressure and slows the heart rate and breathing.
Adding Fentanyl can stop the heart within seconds. A person taking
the mixture would quickly become sedated and unresponsive before
their breathing stops.

The high number of deaths in a short time is an ominous sign that the
drug is circulating on the streets, said Dr. Tammy Lundstrom, chief
quality and safety officer at the Detroit Medical Center.

"We hope the word gets out so more deaths can be prevented,"
Lundstrom said. "Just because 12 people have died, that doesn't mean
there aren't more people out there who've taken it."

Adding to the problem is that officials are unsure whether other
substances are being added to the already dangerous mix.

"We're not sure what these drugs are being combined with and cut with
in the first place," said Dr. Victor Abuel, staff physician at
Detroit's St. John Hospital. "Unfortunately, the people coming in are
going to the medical examiner."

Ficano said the drug has been moving into the Midwest from the East Coast.

"Law enforcement's concern is it's being distributed in the Metro
area on the street and it's very potent," he said. He warned families
of drug users to be on the lookout this weekend.