New Jersey Deaths From Ultra-Potent Fentanyl Drug Are Skyrocketing: Officials

Deaths from the opioid drug fentanyl — about 40 to 50 times more powerful than heroin — are skyrocketing in New Jersey, officials say.

The drug has been in the news lately because it killed Prince, the famed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician. But according to data released by the state Attorney General's Office last week week, fentanyl use has already become all too prevalent recently in New Jersey.

During the first six months of 2015, the most recent data available, 150 people in New Jersey died from the drug, which was more than the entire death total of 2014, according to the Attorney General's Office.

By contrast, 31 people died from the drug in New Jersey in 2011.

The data shows that the drug's consequences are especially prevalent in Camden, Burlington, Monmouth and Ocean counties, which had the highest number of fentanyl deaths in the first six months of 2015.

Al Della Fave, a spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, said there is no "rhyme or reason" for why the drug is so prevalent in Ocean County, saying 272 people were saved by Narcan, the opiate antidote, in the county last year. There have been 190 Narcan saves in the county so far this year, he said.

"Fentanyl deaths can happen quickly," said Della Fave. "The dealers are almost using it as a promotional thing, as a better high and more powerful."

It's most often used with heroin, he said. In 2014, a 42-year-old man was found dead in the Stop & Shop bathroom on Bridge Avenue in Point Pleasant Boro in what authorities believe was an overdose of fentanyl-tainted heroin.

Here is the list of deaths from in each county. The first number is for all of 2014, and the second is for the first six months of 2015:

1. CAMDEN 12, 23
2. BURLINGTON 13, 19
3. MONMOUTH 14, 15
4. OCEAN 19, 15
5. MIDDLESEX 12, 12
6. ATLANTIC 9, 9
7. ESSEX 13, 9
8. GLOUCESTER 3, 7
9. HUDSON 6, 8
10. MERCER 2, 6
11. BERGEN 8, 6
12. CUMBERLAND 1, 4
13. MORRIS 7, 4
14. SOMERSET 4, 4
15. PASSAIC 8, 3
16. CAPE MAY 14, 2
17. UNION 6, 2
18. SUSSEX 1, 1
19. WARREN 0, 1
20. HUNTERDON 0, 0
21. SALEM 0, 0

The Attorney General's Office referred comment to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which issued a warning last week about increasing nationwide fentanyl use.

“Fentanyl can kill you,” Acting Deputy Administrator Jack Riley said in a release. “Fentanyl is being sold as heroin in virtually every corner of our country. It’s produced clandestinely in Mexico, and (also) comes directly from China."

The DEA also released a video to all law enforcement showing fentanyl and its deadly consequences, featuring two New Jersey police detectives who accidentally came in contact with the drug — and felt like they were going to die.

The detectives from Atlantic County urged any law enforcement personnel who come in contact with fentanyl or fentanyl compounds to take the drugs directly to a lab.

The video can be accessed here: http://go.usa.gov/chBgh

"It is 40 to 50 times stronger than street-level heroin," Riley said. "A very small amount ingested, or absorbed through your skin, can kill you.”