Alert # 19                                               Date:   05/10/2006                                                                                           

 

 

 

 Ohio Resource Network for Safe                     and Drug Free Schools and Communities

 

FROM THE CINCINNATI DRUG AND POISON INFORMATION CENTER

 

Very recently in multiple spots around the country including Ohio heroin tainted with fentanyl and/or methylfentanyl has been identified. These contaminants may be hundreds of times more potent than morphine.   This represents an extreme risk of overdose and/or death. 

Chicago Sun Times report: Many of the dozen deaths have been ruled accidental, but until toxicological tests are complete, authorities won't know definitively what killed the users. "Dealers in Chicago were giving the Heroin away free which caused frenzy, and as a result many users were hospitalized and others died of an extreme overdose. It seems to be killing them within minutes.

The pattern was detected because of the high number of victims of overdoses within a short time period. The Sun-Times reported Sunday that investigators became concerned about a pattern of fatal overdoses where the victims were either found on a stretch of road between 27th and 30th, on State and Dearborn in Chicago. On Monday, Chicago Police officials alerted the public, saying they believe a synthetic drug called fentanyl has been sold as heroin.

Fentanyl, a prescription pain-killer that is 80 times more powerful than morphine and is used by cancer patients, has surfaced before as a substitute for heroin and has proven lethal here and elsewhere the country. Treating overdoses of these agents may represent special challenges and involve higher doses of the antidote naloxone than normal. Further information on this alert will be forthcoming.

Earl Siegel, Pharm.D.

Co-Director, Drug and Poison Information Center

Children’s Hospital Medical Center

3333 Burnet Ave. VP-3

Cincinnati, Ohio 45229-9004

earl.siegel@cchmc.org

1-513-636-5111 24/7 emergency

1-800-222-1222 emergency

1-513-636

 

 

 

 

For additional information on the above alert contact: The Ohio Resource Network for Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities, P.O. Box 210109, 2624 Clifton Ave Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0109 Phone # 1-800-788-7254 (opt#2). 

Note:  We would like to know what you were able to do by way of disseminating this alert information.  Please reply with short descriptions of the dissemination (bullet format would be fine) or interesting stories related to this alert.

 

To participate in this OEWN initiative, visit www.ebasedprevention.org and fill out the OEWN registration form (listserv).  Anyone in Ohio can report an issue to the Ohio Early Warning Network by calling the toll-free non-emergency InfoLine at 1-866-OhioEWN.

 

This alert is brought to you by the Ohio Department of Education, Safe and Drug Free Schools Program; the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addictions Services, Division of Prevention Services; the Ohio National Guard and the Ohio Resource Network for Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities

The information appearing on this alert is presented for educational purposes only. While the information published on this site is believed to be accurate, it is not intended to substitute for your own informational gathering or professional medical advice.