B79E8000000578-3128229-image-a-57_1434574182334.jpg' alt='Can You Die From A Crack Overdose Deaths' title='Can You Die From A Crack Overdose Deaths' />Fentanyl linked to thousands of overdose deaths in the nations largest cities. This article has been optimized for offline reading on Washington Post apps. For a richer experience, you can find the full version here. An Internet connection is required. PHILADELPHIA Art Gutierrez comes to the corner of Kensington Avenue and Somerset Street every morning to buy heroin. What hes actually getting in Philadelphias notorious open air drug market is heroin laced with an even more potent additive, often in unpredictable amounts that even antidotes cant stop from being deadly. That narcotic, increasingly spliced into the nations illicit drug supply, is fentanyl, a synthetic painkiller exacerbating heroins deadly trap. Budget Free Download Template Powerpoint Animation Effects. In cities across America, it is fueling deeper addiction and has become one of the most prominent killers linked to the nations drug crisis. Its a new epidemic, said Gutierrez, 4. Kensington by day and ducks into abandoned buildings to sleep at night as he copes with crippling addiction. He has watched his friends die and says, If you catch a pure bag of fentanyl, that Narcan aint bringing you back. Art Gutierrez, 4. July, as another man sleeps on the sidewalk in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. Fentanyl has been creeping into the heroin supply there, leading to a rise in overdoses. Salwan GeorgesThe Washington PostThis city, like many others across the United States long mired in a battle against opioid addiction, is seeing the precipitous rise of illicit fentanyl. Once a minor player in the drug crisis, the man made narcotic about 5. In 2. 4 of the nations largest cities and the counties that surround them, fentanyl related overdose deaths increased nearly 6. According to overdose records in those cities reviewed by The Washington Post, there were 5. Can-you-get-addicted-to-crack-1.jpg' alt='Can You Die From A Crack Overdose Deaths' title='Can You Die From A Crack Overdose Deaths' />Officials estimate there will be a much higher number of fatal fentanyl related overdoses in 2. Cook County, Ill., Chicago recorded a 2,7. Orange County, Fla., Orlando saw its 3. And Franklin County, Ohio, Columbus went from 1. Law enforcement and public health officials say they are alarmed by the rate at which fentanyl has infiltrated the illicit drug market and how it is transforming the face of the drug crisis, which resulted in 6. If anything can be likened to a weapon of mass destruction in what it can do to a community, its fentanyl, said Michael Ferguson, the special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administrations New England division. If you thought the avoidance around death and grief in our society was bad, it is nothing compared to the avoidance of drugrelated deaths. Dont believe me This is a list of unusual deaths. This list includes only unique or extremely rare circumstances of death recorded throughout history, noted as being unusual by. Its manufactured death. The spike in fatal fentanyl overdoses in greater Philadelphia has been among the steepest. In 2. 01. 2, the drug was linked to nine fatal overdoses, according to the health department. By 2. 01. 4, that number had grown to 1. Pennsylvania law enforcement officials just announced last years totals Fentanyl was responsible for more than 4. Philadelphia last year and more than 2,0. The trend is not going to change, unfortunately, said Patrick Trainor, a DEA special agent in Philadelphia. Not anytime soon. Philadelphias Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said the city is averaging 1. This is a health crisis thats worse than weve ever seen, Farley said. This will kill more people than the AIDS epidemic. Youd have to go back to the influenza pandemic of 1. Officials note that in some places, medical examiners did not test overdose victims for fentanyl which does not show up on all standard drug screenings until 2. But they say the raw number of fentanyl related deaths last year was staggering. It cuts across all demographics, race, gender, socioeconomic status, said Chuck Rosenberg, acting administrator of the DEA. What the proposed bill really does is give the government an excuse to let those who are victims of Big Pharmas war on us die in the streets of an overdose. The most vulnerable victims of Americas opioid epidemic. WITHDRAWAL TREMORS During his second week of life, a baby boy suffers severe leg tremors as he. Its everywhere all the time. President Trump on Thursday agreed, saying that the opioid crisis is a national emergency, pledging more money and attention to the problem. It is a serious problem, the likes of which weve never had. You know, when I was growing up, they had the LSD, and they had certain generations of drugs, Trump said. Theres never been anything like whats happened to this country over the last four or five years. A woman walks past storefronts along Kensington Avenue in Philadelphia, an area that houses a notorious open air drug market. Salwan GeorgesThe Washington Post Fentanyls rise. The U. S. opioid epidemic can be traced to the 1. Oxy. Contin, that were marketed as safer and less prone to abuse than prior medications. At the same time, the medical establishment seized on the notion that freedom from pain is a human right and a vital sign, much like blood pressure or heart rate. Suddenly, opioid painkillers were prescribed for a wide range of ailments. In some communities already ravaged by joblessness and substance abuse, unscrupulous doctors dispensed the painkillers in bulk via pill mills. As officials sought to reduce illegitimate prescriptions, the street price of the painkillers soared, sending many users to relatively cheaper heroin, mostly imported from Mexico. As users developed tolerances for the heroin, dealers in search of something cheaper and even stronger began mixing in illicit fentanyl a synthetic drug that in its legal form is sometimes used in anesthesia to prevent surgical pain. Soon, even as overdoses spiked, countless drug abusers sought out the more powerful fentanyl laced heroin, and thousands of users became hooked on the drug. Amanda Bennett, 2. Baltimore became addicted to opioids after she was prescribed oxycodone while recovering from an emergency C section. Her addiction transitioned from pills to heroin, which then escalated to fentanyl laced heroin. If theres no fentanyl in it, I dont want it at all. Im addicted to the fentanyl. If theres no fentanyl in it, it doesnt get me well at all, Bennett said, using a phrase common to heroin users for how the drugs make them feel. Bennett, whose two children, ages 7 and 4, live with their godmother, said she tried a 1. The first thing she did after getting out was get high. I made em bring me some. I wasnt ready, she said. This is all I know anymore. Its all I know. Micheal Rouwhorst, 2. Philadelphia. Salwan GeorgesThe Washington PostArt Gutierrez holds an orange container, known as a trash can, filled with heroin. The heroin supply increasingly includes super powerful fentanyl. Salwan GeorgesThe Washington PostMiamis fentanyl problem came into stark view in July, when authorities released preliminary toxicology results showing that 1. Alton Banks died in June from a combination of heroin and fentanyl. The state attorney there raised the possibility that Alton came into contact with the drugs at a community pool or on his walk home through a neighborhood known to be an illicit drug marketplace. Because any contact with fentanyl can be deadly, some police departments send doctors with police on raids so they can treat officers if necessary. An officer in East Liverpool, Ohio, said he accidentally overdosed in May after a traffic stop when he used his hand to brush powdered fentanyl off his uniform. While many of those overdosing on fentanyl specifically sought to use the drug, health providers and police officials say overdoses also occur among users who dont know the powerful opioid was cut into their heroin or even their cocaine. Amber Snyder, 2. 9, recalled a change in her fathers behavior during the last months of his life. Ray Snyders speech was slow and slurred, he wanted to sleep all day, his memory was shaky. WEST CHESTER, Pa. Two addiction counselors at a suburban Philadelphia halfway house died of opioid overdoses inside the facility on the same day, authorities said Wednesday. When it is the counselors at the halfway house who are overdosing and dying, that makes this a frightening and sobering experience for everyone, said Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan, according to CBS Philadelphia. Opioids are a monster that is slowly consuming our population. Emergency responders were called to Freedom Ridge Recovery Lodge on Sunday afternoon after residents found the counselors unresponsive in separate bedrooms. Residents tried to revive one of the counselors with naloxone but were unsuccessful and called 9. The men lived and worked at the home as on site counselors with six male residents in recovery. These poor folks who were working through their own recovery now also have to deal with the fact that their own counselors died and couldnt fight off that addiction, said Hogan. The counselors duties included organizing daily activities for the residents and keeping medications under lock and key. They died at the scene, and their identities havent been released. One counselor was 3. The other died on what would have been his 2. A call seeking comment from the owner of the group home, located in a quiet residential area in West Brandywine, werent immediately returned Wednesday. Many addiction counselors are former addicts themselves. It wasnt immediately clear if that was the case for the two who died. Baggies stamped with a Superman logo and danger logo were found in the counselors rooms and tested positive for heroin and fentanyl, officials said. Hogan warned the public to stay away from baggies with those markings, saying they contain drugs likely to kill anybody who uses them. Law enforcement officers werent even allowed to handle the drugs without special precautions because of the extreme danger of death or injury, Hogan said.