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DEA: Fentanyl In Heroin Is Deadly

commons.wikimedia.org

Fentanyl is a drug used as an anesthetic used to prevent pain after surgery or other medical procedures. The drug is being spiked into heroin and a DEA official says that combination can be lethal to users.

Christopher Hackbarth is the Drug Enforcement Agency Director in Wisconsin. He says Fentanyl mixed with heroin can be deadly...

"....the traffickers are mixing Fentanyl which can be from 30 to 100 times more powerful than the heroin itself, 30 to 50 times more powerful than morphine, to give (heroin) a higher kick..."

Hackbarth says the drug cocktail isn't mixed by people who know what they are doing, so a user might not have any idea that the dose of heroin might well be lethal. He says much of the heroin laced with fentanyl is mixed in Mexico and more recently in China,  then smuggled into the U.S. He says those responding to an overdose victim also have to take extreme precautions because Fentanyl is so potent if it's inhaled or  on the skin it could put the responder in trouble.

Like many areas of the U.S, the Northwoods has seen an uptick in heroin use in recent years.

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