ADDISON COUNTY – Health and public safety officials are warning heroin users that product sold as heroin and packaged in the same manner as heroin may instead contain pure fentanyl or fentanyl-laced heroin.
The Vermont Department of Health has just confirmed the cause of three deaths in Addison County in January to be overdoses from pure fentanyl. Fentanyl is an opioid drug that is up to 50 times more powerful than heroin, and much deadlier.
“Heroin users may not know they are shooting up fentanyl, or they may not know just how deadly it is,” said Health Commissioner Harry Chen, MD. “Even a very small amount of pure fentanyl, just a few grains, can stop your breathing and kill.”