COUNSEL'S COLUMN

"PRESS RELEASE"

By Theodore J. Romankow
Prosecutor
Union County Prosecutor's Office

FENTANYL AND HEROIN COMBO

The deadly combination of fentanyl and heroin, the cause of dozens of fatal overdoses in southern New Jersey and the Philadelphia area so far this year, has surfaced in Union County and Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow issued a safety alert for residents and law enforcement officers.

"We are using the detectives from our Intelligence Unit to broadcast warnings for narcotics detectives and police officers who work in our schools in Union County, but that's not enough," said Romankow, who said the chemists who work in the office's forensic testing laboratory have confirmed two new cases of the combination drug within the last few weeks.

The Prosecutor pointed to the recent explosion of overdose deaths from fentanyl-laced heroin, including five deaths and 18 non-fatal overdoses in Delaware, seven deaths in Camden since April 14 and one death and eight overdoses reported in Philadelphia since April 22.

"Now we've got to get parents to keep an even closer eye on their children, and citizens to start thinking more about the dangers of drug abuse as schools are about to open their doors for the year," said Romankow, who serves as counsel to the New Jersey Narcotic Enforcement Officers Association and who will take over as president of the 21 county prosecutors' organization later this month.

He said the fentanyl, a potent form of synthetic morphine that is used to treat extreme pain in humans and to immobilize large animals in another formulation, was found in cases from Hillside and Cranford. The substances tested were found to be a mixture of mostly fentanyl and some heroin, with the bags from Cranford marked with the brand names "Bloody Money" and "Superman" and the Hillside submission marked "Dunkin Donuts."

According to Mary Cooper, chief of congressional and public affairs for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, dealers normally use flour, quinine, starch or other cheaper substances to cut down heroin purity for street sales so the use of the more expensive pain killer is unusual.

Romankow said the cases received and tested at the Prosecutor's laboratory in late July illustrate the dangers of drug addicts and even casual users buying heroin they think comes directly from Mexico or Columbia but is actually "cut" or mixed with other substances by dealers to increase profits.

"Our narcotics officers who work so closely with municipal detectives know full well that dealers can cut down one kilogram, or 2.2 pounds, into about 25,000 doses that typically sell on the street for $7 to $10 each," said Chief of Prosecutor's Detectives Robert T. Buccino. "We don't want to lose more young people to overdoses, so everyone needs to be extra vigilant."

In May, authorities said, a reputed member of the Latin Kings street gang was arrested in his Camden apartment with 1,300 bags of fentanyl-laced heroin and $5,200 cash. There were two deaths in Harrisburg in the last four months and eleven in Chicago, along with 24 overdoses on a single day back on April 19 including 15 people all found unconscious in a city park.

"While these dealers keeping tallying their profits, people in New Jersey are dying," said Romankow, who began notifying other prosecutors about the laboratory findings this week..

Deputy Chief Gregory Clay, current president of the drug task force commanders statewide group, said his colleagues in New Jersey are closely monitoring the spread of fentanyl. "We've encouraged our association to be vocal about the dangers of this deadly product," he said, "and we are attempting to trace its use back from retailers to wholesalers to those responsible for introducing to this area."

Prosecutor's Chemist Rich Costa, who conducted some of the testing, said federal authorities are also checking the spread of the narcotic and noted that bulletins have been posted in local police departments as intelligence information provided by the Intel Unit of the Prosecutor's Office. Prosecutor's Sergeant Joseph Koury, the lab director, said 829 heroin cases from 2005 represent about 22 percent of all drugs tested making it third in terms of volume after cocaine and marijuana.

Bloody Money Heroin

Dunkin Donuts Heroin

Superman Heroin