ADDICT'S NEEDLE HAD FENTANYL

PEQUANNOCK -- Tests have found traces of fentanyl in the needle Chris
Loeffler used the night of his fatal overdose in July.

Police confirmed Thursday that fluid in the 20-year-old's syringe
tested positive for both heroin and fentanyl, an opiate 100 times
stronger than morphine. The drug is sometimes mixed with heroin for
an increased high and has been blamed for hundreds of deaths around
the country this year.

Morris County has not had a fentanyl death since 2002. A spokesman
for the county Prosecutor's Office cautioned that it would be
impossible to specifically blame the drug for Loeffler's death.

His family found him barely alive in a bathroom the night of July 16.
He lingered until the next morning, when he was removed from life support.

Lt. Dan Dooley said the fluids he received while hospitalized may
have flushed out whatever fentanyl was in his system.

Police recovered the syringe from the Loeffler home at that time and
sent it to a state police laboratory, which reported the results this
week, Dooley said.

Beth and Rob Loeffler learned about the positive fentanyl test on
Thursday from a township detective. Their son, who graduated from the
township's high school in 2005, had been using heroin for two years
at the time of his death.

"I don't know if it helps to know that or not," Beth Loeffler said of
the test results. "The point is he's gone no matter what. It shows,
though, that you can't know what you're getting when you buy off the street."

Loeffler's official cause of death was acute opiate intoxication.
Opiates include heroin, morphine, codeine and fentanyl.

Statewide, there were 27 fentanyl deaths through June, according to
the latest figures available. Bergen County had two, Passaic County
one and Hudson County one. Camden County had the most, with 11.

Following Loeffler's death, police interviewed two other addicts who
had been with him that weekend. One of the two young men apparently
had bought the heroin in Paterson.

"We looked into it to see if there were any charges to file," Dooley
said. "There's really nothing more we can do."