Fentanyl

In August, a rescue crew in Wichita, Kan., answered a 911 emergency call. A man named Joseph Martier had collapsed inside a dingy storage building at an isolated industrial park just outside town.Mr. Martier was unconscious from a drug overdose, but he recovered later at a Wichita hospital. It appeared to be just another drug-abuse episode -- except for the drug. It was fentanyl, a lethal "designer drug" that can be hundreds of times more potent than heroin.The near-death of Mr. Martier, 42, a Pittsburgh businessman now being held on drug charges, helped solve a lethal mystery that had vexed federal drug agents for a year.

A class-action lawsuit has been filed against a Columbia-based medical staffing agency claiming it acted negligently in 2008 by hiring and placing a medical technician who allegedly went on to expose the plaintiffs to hepatitis C. The lawsuit also says the firm and UPMC Presbyterian, the Pittsburgh hospital where the technician allegedly came in contact with the plaintiffs, knew he had put patients at risk by stealing narcotics but never informed...

An alleged $6.5 million-a-week heroin ring blamed for interstate distribution of the potent opiate substitute fentanyl -- linked to 27 Maryland deaths -- has been shut down with the indictment of 41 people, local and federal authorities said yesterday.The people who died were heroin addicts who unknowingly purchased bags of fentanyl -- used in medical care as an efficient anesthetic -- and succumbed to respiratory distress, the authorities said.About 500 bags of lethal street-ready fentanyl, about 6 percent to 7 percent pure, were seized in March by Baltimore police.

PHILADELPHIA -- The deaths came in an unexpected spring wave. At the medical examiner's office here, investigators counted 53 fatal overdoses between April and June alone, the lethal toll of heroin mixed with the potent painkiller fentanyl. In Detroit, 12 people died in a 24-hour period. In Chicago, where the same concoction has been linked to nearly 100 deaths this year, some dealers lured addicts by promising a version of the drug so powerful it was intended as a tranquilizer for large animals.

PHILADELPHIA -- The deaths came in an unexpected spring wave. At the medical examiner's office here, investigators counted 53 fatal overdoses between April and June alone, the lethal toll of heroin mixed with the potent painkiller fentanyl. In Detroit, 12 people died in a 24-hour period. In Chicago, where the same concoction has been linked to nearly 100 deaths this year, some dealers lured addicts by promising a version of the drug so powerful it was intended as a tranquilizer for large animals.

A New Windsor woman received a two-year sentence yesterday for her role in the death of her 27-year-old nephew, who overdosed last year after the eating the gel from a pain medication patch that is sometimes abused for its heroin-like effect. Regina Raye Kesselring, 47, of the 300 block of Main St. was sentenced to 10 years for manslaughter and two years for drug distribution by Carroll Circuit Judge Luke K. Burns Jr. The judge then suspended all but two years. While pleading guilty to the crimes at a hearing in December, Kesselring acknowledged that she sold a Duragesic patch containing the painkiller fentanyl to her nephew, Steven E. Spivey, for $50. Kesselring, who takes a variety of medications and receives medical disability payments, had been prescribed Duragesic patches by a Westminster doctor, according to court records.

A New Windsor woman received a two-year sentence yesterday for her role in the death of her 27-year-old nephew, who overdosed last year after eating the gel from a pain medication patch that is sometimes abused for its heroin-like effect. Regina Raye Kesselring, 47, of the 300 block of Main St. was sentenced to 10 years for manslaughter and two years for drug distribution by Carroll Circuit Judge Luke K. Burns Jr. The judge then suspended all but two years. While pleading guilty to the crimes at a hearing in December, Kesselring acknowledged that she sold a Duragesic patch containing the painkiller fentanyl to her nephew, Steven E. Spivey, for $50. Kesselring, who takes a variety of medications and receives medical disability payments, had been prescribed Duragesic patches by a Westminster doctor, according to court records.

An alleged $6.5 million-a-week heroin ring blamed for interstate distribution of the potent opiate substitute fentanyl -- linked to 27 Maryland deaths -- has been shut down with the indictment of 41 people, local and federal authorities said yesterday.The people who died were heroin addicts who unknowingly purchased bags of fentanyl -- used in medical care as an efficient anesthetic -- and succumbed to respiratory distress, the authorities said.About 500 bags of lethal street-ready fentanyl, about 6 percent to 7 percent pure, were seized in March by Baltimore police.

MOSCOW - Russia acknowledged yesterday that it pumped an aerosol version of the powerful painkiller Fentanyl into a Moscow theater to end a hostage crisis Saturday, breaking a four-day silence on the drug's identity that had drawn increasing criticism in the United States and Europe. Russia's health minister, Yuri L. Shevchenko, identified the gas as the civilian death toll from the 57-hour hostage siege rose by two to 120. All but two of the victims apparently died from effects of the Fentanyl derivative.

A deadly designer drug that's much more powerful than morphine is making its way from New York to Maryland through an "extremely well-developed heroin pipeline," according to a federal drug official.The illicit drug -- a variation of legally manufactured fentanyl citrate -- has been linked to 22 Maryland deaths since Jan. 25. Anthony J. Senneca, a Drug Enforcement Administration XTC spokesman, said it is likely that the illicit fentanyl was produced in a clandestine lab in New York.Speaking to a group of law enforcement officials in Hagerstown on Wednesday, Mr. Senneca said production of the illicit drug offers "phenomenal profits for a chemist who wants to be a millionaire."

A New Windsor woman received a two-year sentence yesterday for her role in the death of her 27-year-old nephew, who overdosed last year after eating the gel from a pain medication patch that is sometimes abused for its heroin-like effect. Regina Raye Kesselring, 47, of the 300 block of Main St. was sentenced to 10 years for manslaughter and two years for drug distribution by Carroll Circuit Judge Luke K. Burns Jr. The judge then suspended all but two years. While pleading guilty to the crimes at a hearing in December, Kesselring acknowledged that she sold a Duragesic patch containing the painkiller fentanyl to her nephew, Steven E. Spivey, for $50. Kesselring, who takes a variety of medications and receives medical disability payments, had been prescribed Duragesic patches by a Westminster doctor, according to court records.

MOSCOW - Russia acknowledged yesterday that it pumped an aerosol version of the powerful painkiller Fentanyl into a Moscow theater to end a hostage crisis Saturday, breaking a four-day silence on the drug's identity that had drawn increasing criticism in the United States and Europe. Russia's health minister, Yuri L. Shevchenko, identified the gas as the civilian death toll from the 57-hour hostage siege rose by two to 120. All but two of the victims apparently died from effects of the Fentanyl derivative.

A Carroll County woman has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of her 27-year-old nephew, who overdosed after eating the gel from a pain medication patch that is sometimes abused for its heroin-like high. Regina Raye Kesselring, 47, of New Windsor also was charged with drug distribution and reckless endangerment in the death Feb. 4 of Steven E. Spivey, a heroin user who had been "begging" her for one of the Duragesic patches she had been prescribed, court records show.

Final days, boomer style? Why not?This month's glossy obsession is the last great dropping-out of Timothy Leary, Dr. Trips, whose concluding months became a high-powered media event with nonstop visits from such journalists and celebrities as Oliver Stone, Yoko Ono, Susan Sarandon and William Burroughs, who developed a particular interest in Leary's pain-relieving fentanyl patch.The August Esquire nicely chronicles the circus scene at Leary's L.A. ranch house and the August Spin offers a brief "life and times" bit, but the piece to read is Mikal Gilmore's full-length profile in Rolling Stone for July 11-25 (the one with Jenny McCarthy and that suspicious-looking hot dog on the cover)

A federal judge yesterday sentenced seven members of a drug ring linked to 30 overdose deaths in Maryland to life without parole -- the largest number of defendants to receive life sentences in a single federal drug case, prosecutors said.Judge Frederic N. Smalkin in U.S. District Court also sentenced two other ring members to 24-year prison terms. All nine ring members were convicted of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opiate with the street name China White.The penalties were imposed under federal guidelines and mandatory minimum-sentencing laws that call for life terms because such a large amount of fentanyl -- more than 66 pounds -- was sold and deaths were linked to it.Judge Smalkin has frequently complained about federal sentencing laws from the bench.

A federal jury convicted nine men yesterday of conspiring to distribute heroin and fentanyl, a synthetic narcotic blamed for the deaths of 30 people in Maryland last year.Each could receive a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole if prosecutors are able to prove the men could have foreseen that people would die from using fentanyl, which is known on the street as China White."We definitely are on record as claiming that this group's fentanyl killed the 30 people," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent J. Gurney, who prosecuted the federal case along with Baltimore Assistant State's Attorney Jill J. Myers.

A clandestine laboratory in New York may be the source of a powerful designer drug blamed for at least 22 deaths in Maryland since Jan. 25, federal drug officials say.The illicit drug -- which has no recognized medical use -- is a variation of fentanyl-citrate, a legally manufactured painkiller.Anthony J. Senneca, a Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman, told a group of law enforcement officers in Hagerstown yesterday that the designer drug -- a synthetic variation of a legitimate drug transformed into an illicit drug -- is being funneled into the state through an "extremely well-developed heroin pipeline."

Fentanyl, a potent synthetic narcotic known on the street as "China White," has been linked to six overdose deaths statewide -- five in Baltimore and one in Montgomery County -- since mid-February, according to police and state health officials.Dr. John E. Smialek, chief state medical examiner, confirmed this week that Fentanyl was definitely responsible for four of the six overdose deaths and preliminary tests linked it to the remaining two victims, both from the city.Fentanyl is a powerful tranquilizer used in surgery and to sedate wild animals.

In August, a rescue crew in Wichita, Kan., answered a 911 emergency call. A man named Joseph Martier had collapsed inside a dingy storage building at an isolated industrial park just outside town.Mr. Martier was unconscious from a drug overdose, but he recovered later at a Wichita hospital. It appeared to be just another drug-abuse episode -- except for the drug. It was fentanyl, a lethal "designer drug" that can be hundreds of times more potent than heroin.The near-death of Mr. Martier, 42, a Pittsburgh businessman now being held on drug charges, helped solve a lethal mystery that had vexed federal drug agents for a year.