FENTANYL ABUSE HAS FATAL CONSEQUENCES

The transdermal patch delivers a concentrated high that can be
lethal; 17 have fallen victim this year.

DAYTON | The 37-year-old man lay dead on the bathroom floor of his
room at hospice, a syringe and torn transdermal patch near his body.
The scene from two months ago is one of the 17 fentanyl-related
deaths the Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab has handled this year.

"We have found that people have taken the contents of the patches,
which is a very concentrated chunk of drug. It's not supposed to be
taken all at once," said Laureen Marinetti, chief toxicologist for
the crime lab.

Last year, the lab, which covers 40 counties, including Montgomery,
recorded 28 fentanyl-related deaths.

"(Users) either inject it or they will chew the patch," Marinetti
said, noting the lab has performed autopsies where the clear or white
transdermal patches, usually placed on a person's back, have been
found in victims' mouths. "We've also found multiple patches on their
body instead of just one," she said.

"It's a very powerful respiratory depressant, so it stops your
breathing. It's 10 times more potent than morphine," Marinetti said.

She said in most of the lab's fentanyl-related deaths, victims have
been males in their 20s or chronic pain patients who abuse the
painkiller normally used in anesthesia or by cancer patients.

In the last two months, the lab has had two cases of multiple drug
fatalities where fentanyl has been present. In both cases, women ages
44 and 63 had been abusing pain medication.

"They are used a lot in hospice care," Marinetti said, noting that
facilities that administer the prescription drug need to keep a
better eye on the distribution and discarding of the patches, 2
inches wide and 2 inches long.

Marinetti said some people pick them from the trash because discarded
patches can contain enough of the drug to fulfill a high.

The lab has seen cases where victims have mixed the fentanyl with
other drugs such as methadone, but has had no cases of heroine laced
with fentanyl.

Philadelphia has had 20 confirmed deaths from heroin mixed with
fentanyl since April 17, according to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. Chicago has had 30 fatalities from fentanyl or
fentanyl-laced heroin from September 2005 to March 2006, said
Christopher Hoyt, with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Said Marinetti: "I suspect that we will see it probably by the end of
the year because the cities that surround us are already having a
problem with it. I think it's just a matter of time."