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POLICE PROBE DEATH FROM LACED HEROIN

Lebanon police are investigating whether the death of a 44-year-old man last week is linked to a rash of deadly heroin overdoses in the midstate and across the country.

The man, who lived in the 200 block of North Eighth Street, Lebanon, died Wednesday of an overdose of heroin laced with the pain-killer fentanyl, police said.  They did not release his name.

Lebanon police Sgt.  Steven Bord said yesterday that investigators have found no direct evidence that the heroin-fentanyl mix present in last week's death was the same type involved in the more than 400 deaths reported nationwide since April, but they are "checking into that angle."

Two other overdoses, which were not fatal, were recently reported in Lebanon, Bord said.

Since April, at least 20 overdoses from fentanyl-laced heroin have been reported in the midstate, including two deaths in northern Dauphin County and two in Harrisburg.

Fentanyl is a legally produced prescription pain-killer that is up to 100 times stronger than morphine.  It is commonly used to treat cancer patients, but authorities say the type of fentanyl being mixed with heroin is likely manufactured in clandestine labs.

Bord urged caution to those who use heroin.

Addicts "should be careful," Bord said.  "It's a risky behavior to begin with."