MOST FENTANYL VICTIMS OLDER

Records Detail Deaths, Show Many Male, White

The victims of a powerful painkiller blamed in scores of deaths in
metro Detroit were most often middle-age, most frequently men and
typically white. It struck equally among those living in the suburbs
and the city.

Records released Friday by the Wayne County Medical Examiner's office
on 110 deaths related to the drug fentanyl from September 2005 to the
beginning of June painted a more vivid picture of the victims, many
of whom died when the drug was mixed with heroin or cocaine to
produce a more intense high.

According to case summaries, autopsies and toxicology reports
reviewed by the Free Press, the victims ranged in age from 19 to 60
and lived in 21 communities, including Detroit. But more than half
were between the ages of 41 and 55. And in 82 records where hometowns
were clearly identifiable, as many people who died claimed homes in
the suburbs as in the city.

White people accounted for two-thirds of those who died during the
period. Of the 110, 75 were men.

The records, sought by the newspaper under the Freedom of Information
Act, were incomplete: Many details, including names, addresses and
other vital information, were removed by authorities, who claimed the
release of those details would hamper ongoing criminal
investigations. Hometowns were indicated in 82 of the case summaries, however.

The picture drawn from the documents is an accurate one, officials said.

"Drug abuse is an equal opportunity destroyer," Dr. Michele Reid,
chairwoman of the Wayne County Fentanyl Work Group, said Friday.
"This just goes to show you the general vulnerability of the population."

Fentanyl deaths have swept several cities across the nation this
year. In Wayne County alone, authorities have blamed at least 130
deaths on the drug since the beginning of 2005.

The records released Friday accounted for fewer deaths because some
cases were not released pending lab reports. The 110 deaths reviewed
by the Free Press also did not include fentanyl-related suicides or
natural deaths where the drug showed up in testing but was taken for
legitimate medical uses.

The victims in the cases reviewed died from injecting, snorting and
smoking fentanyl or using fentanyl with other drugs. A few ate a gel
containing the drug from patches typically prescribed to give
regulated doses of the painkiller through the skin.

The records provided a glimpse of the ways in which the drug claimed
its victims. Bodies were found on floors, on stairways and on
porches; they were found sitting on toilets. Frequently, they were
found frothing from the mouth and nose.

Several victims were found with underwear around their ankles after
apparently injecting themselves in the groin. Two were found dumped
along city streets and one on a freeway service drive. Many were
found dead in bed.

In one case in April, three young users were found dead together in a
car in Detroit. Two of them apparently died while having sex in the front seat.

All told, fentanyl played a role in the deaths of 71 white people, 38
African Americans and one Hispanic. Male victims outnumbered women 75 to 35.

While authorities made public warnings about fentanyl this May,
numbers began spiking last November, when deaths associated with the
drug jumped to 16 from seven a month earlier. The death toll ran in
double digits through February, dropped in March and April, and
soared to 24, the peak month, in May.

But as early as January, the medical examiner's office was hearing concerns.

One report details how the daughter of a 52-year-old woman who
overdosed called shortly after her mother's death and said two more
drug users in their neighborhood had died. The document does not
indicate whether the official who took that call shared the information.

Still, Reid said Friday, "there wasn't enough evidence to go public
with it any earlier. There just was not a critical mass before May."

That's when local officials warned that fentanyl was showing up in
dangerous quantities, mixed with heroin and cocaine.

Police said dealers have capitalized on the scourge, branding their
goods in packages named Drop Dead and Suicide Packets.

At least one user wasn't scared by the warnings: Records show a
27-year-old Detroiter discussed with his girlfriend a "new mix of
drugs and that it was killing people in the Detroit area." He was
dead within hours.