DANGERS FROM PAINKILLER FENTANYL LOOM IN WNC

FLETCHER - A Henderson County man's arrest marks at least the second
time in five months law enforcement in Western North Carolina filed
murder charges following a fentanyl overdose death.

The powerful prescription painkiller has been blamed in a surging
number of overdose deaths nationwide.

Henderson County investigators charged with [redacted] second-degree
murder in the death of Justin Kane Anderson. [redacted] also is
charged with possession with intent to sell or deliver fentanyl and
sale or delivery of fentanyl.

Anderson, 20, died July 20 of acute fentanyl toxicity. He was using a
fentanyl patch, Henderson County Sheriff's Office Capt. Charles
McDonald said Wednesday.

Authorities believe seven other people in Henderson County died this
year after overdosing on fentanyl, McDonald said Wednesday.

"We don't normally see that with prescription drugs," he said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a report
released in July estimated 1,000 people died nationwide from doses of
fentanyl created in illegal laboratories in 2007. The drug is
commonly given to cancer patients.

Rise in Deaths

Emergency room physicians have reported a rise in deaths related to
abuse of fentanyl, which is 50 times more potent than heroin when
taken intravenously, according to the government agency.

The drug and others like it are a serious problem in WNC. A survey
earlier this year by N.C. Healthy Schools found about 25 percent of
WNC high school students said they have used prescription painkillers.

Anderson's death came just months after an Erwin High student died in
his sleep with a stolen fentanyl patch on each arm.

The patches sell for $75-$100 on the street and the drug is so
addictive that an illegal market is created almost instantaneously,
McDonald said.

Prosecutors in WNC are taking notice of the problem.

District Attorney Michael Bonfoey, the prosecutor for the state's
seven westernmost counties, won two manslaughter pleas stemming from
fentanyl overdoses in 2006. The cases started as second-degree murder charges.

Madison County District Attorney Jerry Wilson charged a couple was
charged in May with second-degree murder following an overdose of a
28-year-old man.

Bonfoey, discussing the issue in general terms, said the cases are
hard to make.

"It has to be the proximate cause of death," he said. "You have to
prove that the person supplied that particular drug, and that
particular drug caused the death."

District Attorney Jeff Hunt, whose office will handle the charges in
Henderson County, could not be reached on Wednesday. But McDonald
said the prosecutor has been supportive.