Painkiller Behind Spate of Fatal Overdoses
WNYC News | Jul 12, 2010
New York, NY —
City health officials are concerned about a spate of fatal drug overdoses from Fentanyl. The painkiller has been mixed into narcotics such as heroine or cocaine for years.
REPORTER: But health commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden says the city has only experienced its first deaths from Fentanyl in the last few months.
FRIEDEN: 17 people have died of fentanyl overdoses locally since May, most of them men in their 30s and 40s. Fentanyl is considered more than 50-times more powerful than morphine. It is not clear whether those taking narcotics knew their drugs were laced with it.
