AMID FENTANYL DEATHS, ADDICTS KEEP USING

CHICAGO - A self-described drug addict stood by a vacant lot on the
city's South Side and pointed down the block. There, he says, more
than a dozen of his friends and acquaintances died after using heroin
laced with a strong painkiller.

Several miles away, police and drug enforcement officials ended two
days of discussions on the possible source of the bad heroin that
killed Howard's friends and at least 100 others from Chicago to Philadelphia.

The summit that ended Thursday provided officials from 12 states and
Washington, D.C., the chance to coordinate their investigations into
the spike of fentanyl-related deaths since the beginning of this
year, Ogden said at a news conference.

He said that just 125 micrograms of the illegal fentanyl -- the
equivalent of a few grains of salt -- are more than enough to kill.

There were outbreaks of fentanyl-laced heroin in the '80s and early
'90s, said Arlington, Va.-based DEA spokeswoman Mary Irene Cooper,
who was in Chicago for the meeting. The difference is that the
outbreaks aren't isolated this time to one city.

Its deadliness doesn't appear to have dissuaded hardened drug addicts.

"We have willing victims here," he said. "That's part of the problem."

Howard said there is less fear among many addicts than non-addicts
might presume.

"Suicidal behavior comes from being an addict," agreed Francois
Seets, a 58-year-old recovering addict from Chicago. "They think
they're immortal. ... And they think it (the fentanyl contamination)
will pass."

"You wouldn't know it's bad until you collapse," he said.

Howard, who said he struggles to scrape together the $10 it costs for
a small bag of heroin, said he doesn't turn down free samples of
heroin -- even though such samples have been linked to the recent
fentanyl deaths.

But he does take precautions.

Before settling down to shoot up a sample with friends, "I let
somebody else go first to be sure," Howard said.

Seets said the fentanyl outbreak does serve as an inspiration to him,
driving home the potentially deadly consequences of a relapse.

"It makes me understand I am mortal," he said.