Heroin Laced Synthetic Drug Linked To Spike In Overdose Deaths In Montgomery County
MONTGOMERY COUNTY (CBS) -- The Montgomery County DA's office says the county is on pace to set a record for heroin-overdose deaths, largely because of heroin laced a synthetic opioid.
Renee Winslow of Pottstown died of a heroin overdose earlier this year. Harold Burton, the man who Montgomery County district attorney Kevin Steele says sold her the drugs, is now charged in her death.
"Somebody deals drugs to another and the person dies as a result of that substance, they're on the hook for a homicide charge: Drug Delivery Resulting in Death," Steele says.
The same penalty as third degree murder, up to 40-years in prion, Steele says. He says what Winslow thought was heroin was the synthetic opioid Fentanyl:
"This is a substance that is 40-50 times more potent than heroin."
So dangerous, Steele says, they're telling police to stop field testing suspected heroin and take it straight to the lab for analysis, because ingesting or touching just a small amount of Fentanyl can be deadly.
