U.S. WILL LIMIT USE OF FENTANYL INGREDIENT

WASHINGTON -- The federal government announced Monday that it will
regulate a chemical that can be used in the production of fentanyl, a
powerful drug often combined with heroin and blamed in the deaths of
more than 200 people in metro Detroit since late 2005.

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said the
government will regulate the manufacture, importation, exportation
and distribution of the chemical N-phenethyl-4-piperidone, also known as NPP.

Officials say NPP is a base chemical used in production of fentanyl
in the United States and has been seen in several fentanyl labs
raided in the last seven years.

"If we can control the precursor, hopefully we can reduce the illicit
manufacture of fentanyl," Deputy Drug Czar Scott Burns said Monday.

However, law enforcement authorities say Mexico was the likely source
of many overdoses in cities, including Detroit, last year.

Fentanyl -- as much as 50 times more powerful than heroin -- is
blamed in more than 1,000 overdose deaths in the United States since
2005, the drug policy office said.

The office said Detroit, Chicago and Philadelphia have seen an
extremely high number of fentanyl-related deaths.