FEDS TESTING HEROIN NATIONWIDE FOR OVERDOSE LINK

Federal law enforcement investigators are attempting to collect
samples of heroin from around the country in the wake of overdose
outbreaks, including the one here in Chicago, to see if there is a connection.

Overdoses have also been reported in the New Jersey area and
Maryland. Authorities have said they suspect that a prescription
pain-killer called fentanyl might have either been cut into the
heroin or substituted for heroin.

Agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration were sending
samples to a testing unit for comparison, said spokesman Christopher Hoyt.

24 Arrests Related To Case

Meanwhile, the Chicago Police Department, which has formed a Heroin
Task Force Initiative, has arrested 24 people in connection with the
local overdoses, and an aggressive investigation into the local
source of the tainted drugs continues, even as the number of victims
has declined, said Frank Limon, chief of the department's Organized
Crime Division.

Those arrested have been charged with drug offenses, but Limon and
other department officials said they would seek the highest charges
possible, even homicide.

"Our goal is the arrest and prosecution of the drug sellers who are
responsible," Limon said. "Period. We definitely have to go dig and
try to understand how this fentanyl-laced heroin is getting out there
on the street."

Chicago's most serious outbreak happened at the beginning of the
year, when several people died, apparently from drugs purchased at
the South Side Dearborn Homes public housing development. Autopsy
results showed all of the victims had ingested fentanyl.

But there have been scattered outbreaks since last September,
including the most recent one, which began around April 13.

Authorities say they suspect the heroin is tainted with fentanyl
because of the victims' symptoms and the fact that paramedics had to
use twice as much Narcan, which is used to reverse drug overdoses.
Fentanyl is 100 times stronger than heroin and can kill in an instant.

Counts Show Problem Subsiding

About the same time Chicago was experiencing its April outbreak,
authorities in Camden, N.J., and Philadelphia also reported several
fatal heroin overdoses. As of Monday, there had been nine reported
fatal cases in those areas but dozens more non-fatal overdoses.

Limon said he believed the overdoses are declining based on counts
from police and Chicago Fire Department officials. The two
departments have been communicating daily about the overdoses.

Fire Department paramedics responded to 105 overdoses between April
13 and 24, and police had counted about half of that -- likely
because victims often leave right after a paramedic treats them, he
said. On Tuesday, the Fire Department reported seven overdoses and
police recorded just two, Limon said.