LAB LINKED TO DRUG DEATHS

CHICAGO -- U.S. agents, working in co-operation with the Mexican
government, have closed down a lab in Mexico that might be the main
source of a powerful painkiller that has killed at least 100 heroin
users in eight states, the federal drug czar said yesterday.

John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy, said it's still not clear whether the painkiller,
fentanyl, was mixed with heroin at the lab in Mexico or after it
entered the United States.

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

Five people were arrested during the May bust, including one Walters
described as "the chemist." He referred specific questions to the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, which declined to provide details immediately.