Dauphin County coroner warns of deadly heroin/fentanyl combo
Dauphin County Coroner Graham Hetrick.
(Harrisburg) — Dauphin County’s coroner is warning a potentially deadly drug cocktail could be spreading across the midstate.
Graham Hetrick says he wouldn’t call it a trend, but he’s seen some evidence that heroin laced with the powerful painkiller fentanyl is being sold on the street in Dauphin County and other parts of the region.
Last week, Lebanon County authorities reported one death and five overdoses related to the drug.
Hetrick says the news should be a wake-up call for users.
“What I’m asking people to do is if they have friends or relatives that they know have an issue with heroin, is that they warn them that there could be some bad stuff out there,” Hetrick says.
He says fentanyl can be up to 100 times more powerful than morphine.
He says it’s being sold in packages that say “die hard” — and possibly “get hooked.”
His office’s research shows this type of drug abuse is not confined to any specific location or group of people.
