LETHAL DRUG LIKELY CAME TO AREA FROM MEXICAN LAB

Authorities Believe Raid Hit Source Of Pain-Killer Used In Deadly Heroin

CHICAGO - U.S. and Mexican authorities have closed a Mexican lab that
might have been the main source of a powerful pain-killer that has
killed heroin users in the Harrisburg and Philadelphia areas and six
other states.

Those authorities also warned yesterday that millions of deadly doses
of fentanyl-laced heroin might still be on America's streets.

The mixture has caused at least 100 confirmed deaths from
Philadelphia to Chicago in recent months. The Harrisburg area had two
deaths and at least 20 overdoses from heroin cut with fentanyl in
April, authorities said.

The lethal mix was sold locally in packages marked "Apollo" and was
sought by users looking for powerful highs, authorities said.

Deaths caused by fentanyl-laced drugs have also occurred in Michigan,
Missouri, Ohio, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, said John Walters,
director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Fentanyl, medical authorities said, is prescribed for cancer patients
and others in extreme pain. The drug is considered 80 times more
powerful than morphine. An overdose can cause a suffocating feeling
similar to an asthma attack, slowing breathing to the point of death.

Organizations that run needle exchanges and other health programs for
drug users are trying to spread the word. "Is your friend turning
blue?" reads one flier that describes what to do in an emergency.

But to some drug users, seeking a more powerful high, the warnings
become an advertisement.

In the Detroit area -- the apparent hub of the problem with more than
100 confirmed cases since last fall -- officials from the national
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were investigating, and
community organizations were still scrambling at the end of May to
get the word out to users.

Walters said it was not clear yesterday 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 that fentanyl might be coming from other sources as well.

"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 the raid near the western city of Guadalajara, but
it 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 the May 28 raid,
Robertson said. Walters described one of them as "the chemist."

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

Walters 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 14-15 in Chicago,
Robertson said.

Staff writer Tom Bowman contributed to this report.