Pubdate: Tue, 06 Jun 2006
Source: Herald-Dispatch, The (Huntington, WV)
Copyright: 2006 The Herald-Dispatch
Contact:  http://www.hdonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1454
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)

AGENTS CLOSE MEXICAN FENTANYL DRUG LAB

CHICAGO -- U.S. agents, working in cooperation with the Mexican 
government, have closed down a lab in Mexico that might be the main 
source of a powerful painkiller that has killed at least 100 heroin 
users in eight states, the federal drug czar said Monday.

John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug 
Control Policy, said it's still not clear whether the painkiller, 
fentanyl, was mixed with heroin at the lab in Mexico or after it 
entered the United States.  ADVERTISEMENT

"There may be more than one source," Walters said. "We think this is 
the principal source."

Forty-eight people died of drug overdoses between May 19 and May 30 
in metro Detroit, the Tri-State's primary source city for crack 
cocaine and heroin. Health officials there believe a majority of 
those deaths have been caused by fentanyl-laced heroin or crack cocaine.

Deaths caused by fentanyl-laced drugs have occurred in Illinois, 
Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and 
Maryland, Walters said.

However, officials with the drug section of the West Virginia State 
Police's forensics lab said last week that there have been no signs 
of the painkiller in the Mountain State.

Five people were arrested during the May bust in Mexico, including 
one Walters described as "the chemist." He referred specific 
questions to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, which declined to 
provide details immediately.

Walters said that the dealers may have started using Fentanyl because 
they were looking for a competitive advantage on the street, but that 
inept mixing -- or cutting -- of the drug combination made it deadly.

He also warned that millions of deadly doses of the fentanyl-laced 
heroin might still be on the streets. Fentanyl-laced cocaine had 
turned up in some cities, as well, he said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman