Pubdate: Tue, 26 Aug 2014
Source: Journal News, The (NY)
Copyright: 2014 The Gannett Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.lohud.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1205
Author: Ned P. Rauch

HEROIN OFTEN MIXED WITH ACETYL FENTANYL

A New Study Warns Emergency Workers About the Dangers of Heroin Cut 
With Acetyl Fentanyl

To the long list of reasons that make abusing heroin so dangerous, 
add this: acetyl fentanyl.

According to a recently published study in the Annals of Emergency 
Medicine, acetyl fentanyl is a "quasi-legal" synthetic opiate often 
mixed with heroin sold on the street.

It's potent stuff - five to 15 times stronger than heroin - but users 
typically have no idea if it's in the dose they've just bought.

John Stogner, the study's author, said emergency workers should be 
prepared for a rise in overdoses tied to the use (unwitting or 
otherwise) of acetyl fentanyl. And they may find that "the standard 
dose of antidote (naloxone) doesn't work," he said in the study's introduction.

"Larger or additional doses are necessary when acetyl fentanyl is 
responsible. It's never good to lose time between overdose and 
treatment," Stogner, who is with the department of criminal justice 
and criminology at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, said 
in the study.

"People who abuse heroin and prescription drugs need to remember that 
these things can be cut with anything, including acetyl fentanyl," 
Doreen Lockwood, the chemical dependence director at Putnam Family 
and Community Services, said. "People are unaware they're ingesting it."

Acetyl fentanyl can be used on its own, without being cut into heroin 
or other drugs, but Lockwood said she hasn't seen evidence of that 
happening here.

The drug's quasi-legal status makes it particularly troublesome for 
authorities and treatment providers. As Stogner explained, acetyl 
fentanyl is not cleared for human consumption. But if products 
containing it - like plant food or bath salts, mentioned as examples 
in the study - are labeled "not for human consumption," those 
products may be legal.

"Clever and well-informed drug distribution networks will likely take 
advantage of the legal loophole and profit by replacing or cutting a 
highly-regulated drug with this less regulated one," Stogner said in the study.

Officials in Putnam, Rockland and Westchester counties have requested 
help from the federal government in their efforts to combat heroin abuse.

"We have to remind people that treatment is available and recovery is 
possible," Lockwood said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom