Lethally-Laced Heroin Kills Along the East Coast

Heroin laced with an extremely potent narcotic has been the cause of over 80 deaths this year, according to various state officials.

Authorities in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island have reported a combined total of 84 deaths linked to overdose of a synthetic opiate called fentanyl, with even more suspected cases that have yet to be confirmed.

Fentanyl is a synthetic narcotic generally reserved for intensive care units. The drug is reportedly 80 times stronger than other emergency-room opiates, such as morphine, and is normally administered in very controlled doses to patients in extreme pain and the terminally ill.

However, now the fatally potent opiate has found its way onto the streets and is being laced with heroin. Lacing of the drug into heroin can supposedly give drug abusers a powerful high, but since the fentanyl found in these street-cooked batches is certainly not regulated, the likelihood of having an overdose is extremely high.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this would be the second time fentanyl has made its way onto the streets and started killing. According to a CDC report, the last "outbreak" of fentanyl-related overdoses began in the Spring of 2005 and didn't seen an end until 2007. The report showed that over 1000 people died from overdose in that time.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, fentanyl overdoses almost always result in death by asphyxiation, where too much of the drug inhibits a user's ability to breath.

This new rash of overdoses comes in the wake of an already increasing sensitivity to heroin-related deaths after beloved actor and director Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead from a heroin overdose earlier this year.

Efforts in east coast cities, where heroin-related deaths are most prevalent, are focused around saving the lives of overdosing addicts. Besides drug abuse prevention and outreach programs springing up, several states have begun increasing the use of naloxone, an emergency treatment drug that can reverse an opioid overdose. Similarly, the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy has called for states to implement "good Samaritan" laws that would make overdosing addicts immune to criminal prosecution when they call for emergency aid.

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