According to Newsweek magazine, it’s a new type of "designer heroin". Actually a mix of heroin and Fentanyl ("FEN-ta-nill"), an anesthetic and painkiller that’s 80 times stronger than morphine. Doctors use Fentanyl to treat chronic cancer pain, and knock patients out for open-heart surgery. But one of the major side effects is breathing problems – and that’s what causes most of the problems.

It’s also why street users call this new heroin names like "drop dead," "Teflon," "Al Capone," "flat-liner," "executioner," and "Get high or die trying." Heroin addicts say it’s the best high they’ve ever had. Police say it’s the deadliest.

It has already killed hundreds of people this year… Mostly in big cities in Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. In one two-week period, 50 people died of overdoses in Detroit, 19 of them on one day.

After Fentanyl-doctored-heroin killed 11 people in one day in Chicago, the police issued a public warning. But instead of being scared off, would-be buyers flocked to the area! Why? Because heroin addicts wrongly believe that anybody who dies from an overdose just snorted, smoked, or injected too much. And they say, "But I’ll be safe because I’m not stupid!" Unfortunately, with this drug, a lot of addicts are just dead wrong. A little bit is enough to kill you. People die in hospitals because of the side effects from this drug. So street users have no chance.

If you’d like to get help with any type of drug or alcohol addiction, or just get more information, check out the Narcotics Anonymous website at www.N-A.ORG.