Illegal painkiller killed 1,013 in U.S.
29.07.2008 16:01
Health
- Source: cbc.ca
More than 1,000 people died over two years from an illegal version of the painkiller fentanyl, the U.S. government reported Thursday. The spike in overdoses seems to have ended, health officials said, pointing to law enforcement's shutdown of a fentanyl operation in Mexico in 2006. The wave of fentanyl overdoses first came to light in Chicago in 2005, and by 2006 more clusters were identified in Philadelphia, Detroit and other U.S. cities. Hundreds of deaths from the drug were gradually reported, often episodically in local newspapers. Thursday's report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) put the toll at 1,013 deaths in the U.S. from early April 2005 through late March 2007. "This was really an epidemic," said Dr. Steven Marcus, the executive director of New Jersey's poison control centre and a co-author of the report. Some deaths from illegal fentanyl still occur, but the worst of the outbreak seems to have ended after authorities shut down a fentanyl-making operation in Toluca, Mexico, in May 2006, said Dr. T. Stephen Jones, the study's lead author. "It almost disappeared entirely. The shutting down of the Toluca facility was probably a major factor," said Jones, a consultant retired from the CDC. The new report is being published this week in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Illegal fentanyl not found in Canada, official saysHealth Canada is not aware of the existence of any counterfeit fentanyl in the country, said spokesman Stephane Shank. "There has been no reports of adverse reactions where a suspected counterfeit version of fentanyl was reported," he said Thursday from Ottawa. Fentanyl is a prescription painkiller, often prescribed for cancer patients and administered through a patch. But it also is a powerful, euphoria-inducing narcotic, 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin. Illegally made versions of the drug are sold as a powder, often mixed with cocaine or heroin, and sometimes used as a heroin replacement. It's possible some heroin addicts are unaware fentanyl is part of their injection, some experts say. Smaller outbreaks of fentanyl-associated deaths in addicts have been reported before, including the "China White" outbreak of the 1980s, famed for being so deadly that drug users dropped dead with needles still in their arms. The latest outbreak was first noted in Chicago. Patients who recovered from overdoses said they had been given free heroin in orange and pink plastic bags by new drug dealers trying to attract more customers. The Chicago cases are summarized in the July issue of Clinical Toxicology. Overdoses among addicts prompted studyIt wasn't until a cluster of overdoses in Camden, N.J., emergency rooms in April 2006 that federal officials were notified of the problem, by Marcus. The resulting investigation was unusual because some health officials were reluctant to spend time and energy investigating deaths related to illicit drugs, Marcus said. "The response when I deal with public health officials is: 'Drug abuse is a dangerous habit, and drug abusers know it's a dangerous habit, so why are we making a big deal out of it?"' he said. The report distinguished deaths due to illegally made fentanyl from those due to illicit use of the pharmaceutical product. Medical examiners cannot tell the difference from what's seen in an autopsy, so investigators relied on drugs found at the scene and other information to separate the two. Also, investigators did not count cases in every city. The tally covers only two states, New Jersey and Delaware, and the cities of Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia and St. Louis. "It's an incomplete picture," Jones said. U.S. national health statistics show the death rate from unintentional drug poisonings —most of them illicit drug overdoses — roughly doubled between1999 and 2005. Story Tools: E-MAIL | PRINT | Text Size: SMLXL | REPORT TYPO | SEND YOUR FEEDBACKHealth Headlines'Massive dysfunctionality' led to isotope crisis: ClementA "massive dysfunctionality" of communication between parties led to the closing of the Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. reactor in Chalk River, Ont., and subsequent shortage of medical isotopes, federal Health Minister Tony Clement said.Ontario's NDP calling for law presuming automatic consent for organ donationOntario's New Democrats are renewing calls for a presumed-consent law to govern organ donation in the province. 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