2ND ROUND OF HEROIN USERS ARE SICKENED

CHICAGO -- Ten people were hospitalized Saturday night and early
Sunday after ingesting what Chicago police suspect was heroin cut
with a potent prescription drug.

The heroin was purchased in locations in the Prairie Police District,
which extends along the lake from the South Loop to 61st Street,
police spokeswoman Monique Bond said.

Bond declined to list specific locations, saying police did not want
to provide a road map for drug sales. The heroin may have been cut
with fentanyl, she said. Fentanyl is a pain killer.

She declined to confirm earlier media reports that two people died
Saturday from taking heroin that may have been laced with the medication.

The 10 hospitalized people, ages 30 to 71, were taken to Provident
Hospital, Mercy Hospital and Medical Center and University of Chicago
Hospitals, she said.

A total of 25 people between ages 17 and 73 had overdosed Wednesday,
including a 51-year-old woman who died at her home, police said Thursday.

Fifteen of the overdoses Wednesday happened near the Ida B. Wells
public housing complex, and police believe the spate of sicknesses
started when samples of drugs were given out in the 500 block of East
Browning Avenue and at 64th Street and Ashland Avenue.