dane5679

HOLY crap.. as if the daily worry I'm trying to work through is not bad enough... it is now ALL OVER the news in our area that a new type of Heroin has made a horrific appearance in SW PA. I believe they are now calling it an epidemic. It is a batch that has been mixed with Fetanol.. which I believe is 100 xs more powerful than morphine. The overdoses in this area has skyrocketed overnight. The bags are stamped Theraflu. I don't know if my AH is still using or not. I've been in a good place.. basically not giving a darn. Trying to stay out of his problems and recovery. If he looks high, he is out. NOw this scares the beegeebus out of me! I know it is not in my control.. however..Here come the panic attacks...

cece1960

You must be from my parts Dane. They have now added "BudIce" and "Income Tax" to the group.
I hate to hear this too, but the truth is, any and every dose is potentially fatal.

I'm glad that they've at least indentified it. Now, anyone who is drawn to it for it's potency ( and some will be), well, ther's not much we can do with that.

cynical one

The heroin and fentanyl mix has been around for years. Back in like 2005/6 it took its toll on major cities like NY, Philly, Chicago, under the street name “Death”. Addicts flocked to it like a kid to a candy store. And, as promised…it delivered.

needingabreak

Dane we had 22 death from January 1st to January 13th from drugs like this in our state (RI). Scary? You betcha but worrying will not change anything nor help your AH. I too hate it and wish something could be done but it seems to be getting worse everywhere. I feel like all I can do is pray and talk with my RAS when he seems open to it.
I understand that scary feeling believe me but all the worrying does is hurt you. I've had to leave it in God's hands because I know I am powerless and have absolutely no control over what my son does. I hope your AH seeks recovery someday soon.
Hugs.

zoso77

Fentanyl? Yikes.

Well, do what you need to do to stay safe. Keep us posted.

Carlotta

This is horrible, I checked the thread because I thought someone had that nasty bug which has been around and I learn instead about new deadlier drug concoctions.
Only thing you can do is if you pray, pray for him and place him in his higher power's loving hand. Scary stuff.
I am so grateful that I never got into hard drugs. With my work, I see on a daily basis what it does to people.

incitingsilence

Sadly this isn’t new, just spreading out to more/smaller areas in the loop from ME south to MD on the east coast, and the west through PA, OH, IL and MI.

Heroin, China White ( Fentanyl) and Black Tar are area based and heroin isn’t always just heroin in chemical makeup.

In August of 2006 it hit big in one southern NJ country. There were 144 od’s that hit hospitals in one 48 hour period. Local news and papers started warning of tainted heroin, and it actually made it worse and it drew some in recovery back out, my husband was one of them.

This is happening now in NJ as well, Ocean County most recently had a rash of od’s and deaths in the past few weeks. The bud light stamp is being used here as well on the bags.

I know the fear and anxiety that you are feeling Dane. There is nothing you can do but live the best you can in each day. Take good care of you and try to not worry so much. He I am sure you know will do what he wants to, feels he needs to. And it will be by choice knowing the risks.

Chino

I posted two weeks ago about a friend who OD'd. Well, it's official now, it was this deadly crap.

dane5679

So sorry for your loss Chino. In this area the attorney general now has a hotline to report any "dealers" in the area... My thoughts on this are UMMMMMMM.... why hasn't this been going on for years?? with action?

incitingsilence

I am sorry Chino.

Philadelphia Department of Public Health warned Delaware to be on the lookout … which mostly means that it will cause more to take the drive up to Philly or Camden to get their fix. I really wish they would stop warning it always seems to make it worse.

There is a report as well that they are looking into the bags they found with Hoffman, to see if it was fentanyl.

starfish401

We've had an uptick in overdoses here in RI the past month or so, I've head around 22 (a lot for such a small area) so far confirmed? It's extremely scary, and I'm glad I'm not using, because I was the addict who ran to find that dope when I heard that people were dying from it. But it's not just here - it's everywhere in the country. Pennsylvania, NY, Jersey, Baltimore... and I could go on.

Part of me wonders, though - are we seeing news of these stronger batches of heroin and subsequent lethal overdoses just because a celebrity has died at the hand of the needle? I find that when a celebrity overdoses, people run to suggest that there is a heroin/oxycontin/cocaine/molly/whatever epidemic in our country. We've had these problems for a verrry long time, and it really bothers me that it takes a celebrity's death to push these issues into the light. What about all the nameless and faceless non-celebs who succumb to this disease everyday?