U.S. DRUG BUST TARGETS DEADLY VARIATION OF HEROIN

100 Fatalities From Fentanyl-Laced Narcotics Reported In MD., 7 Other States

CHICAGO // U.S. drug czar John Walters said today that federal
agents, working in cooperation with the Mexican government, have
closed down a lab in Mexico that might be the main source of the
powerful painkiller fentanyl that has killed heroin users in eight states.

Walters, the director of the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy, said it's still not clear whether the fentanyl was
mixed with heroin at the lab in Mexico or after it entered the United
States. Fentanyl-laced cocaine also has turned up in some cities, he said.

He warned drug users that millions of deadly doses of fentanyl-laced
heroin might still be on the streets. The mixture has caused at least
100 confirmed deaths from Philadelphia to Chicago in recent months.
Fentanyl might also be coming from other sources, he said.

"There may be more than one source," Walters said. "We think this is
the principal source."

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is testing samples of
fentanyl seized in a May 28 raid of a suspected
fentanyl-manufacturing operation near the western city of Guadalajara
but does not yet have confirmation that the drug is linked to the
U.S. deaths, DEA spokesman Steve Robertson said.

"We hope to have a break in the case, but we're not sure this is it,"
Robertson said. "This is an ongoing investigation, and we're working
very closely with local authorities."

Five men, all Mexican citizens, were arrested in connection with the
May 28 raid, Robertson said.

"Through standard detective work we're looking to make ties into
what's going on up here" in the United States, Robertson said.

Deaths from fentanyl-laced drugs have occurred in Maryland, Illinois,
Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, Walters said.

In the Chicago area alone, 51 people died from fentanyl or
fentanyl-laced heroin from December 2005 through April 2006, said
Christopher Hoyt, a spokesman for the Chicago DEA office.

Doctors prescribe fentanyl, a narcotic, as a painkiller for cancer
patients and others in chronic pain. It's about 80 times more potent
as a painkiller than morphine.

The drug is also many times stronger than heroin. An overdose can
slow breathing to the point of death.

Among the people arrested in Mexico was a person Walters described as
"the chemist." Walters said the size of the fentanyl operation made
the bust extremely significant.

He said the fentanyl-laced heroin might have been used by dealers
looking for a competitive advantage on the street, but inept mixing
- -- or cutting -- of the drug into heroin made it deadly.

The DEA plans to gather police officers and drug enforcement agents
for a national meeting on the fentanyl problem June 14 and 15 in
Chicago, Robertson said.

Walters was in Chicago to release a new series of
anti-methamphetamine advertisements in Spanish and English.