Four WNY deaths blamed on Fentanyl

CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WIVB) - Four western New York deaths in the last two months are being blamed on the drug Fentanyl. Police say it's just a symptom of a much bigger problem.

50-year-old Joann Rusby of LeRoy was charged with manslaughter this week for selling a Fentanyl patch to woman who died from using it.

At a house in Niagara Falls in May, three young people died from a Fentanyl overdose.

Police know the prescription painkiller is growing in popularity on the street.

Cheektowaga Police Department Lieutenant Michael Sliwinski said, "Average Fentanyl is probably about 80 times more potent than Morphine and hundreds of times more potent than Heroin."

Doctors and pharmacists recommend Fentanyl only be used for patients with chronic pain or Cancer.

Pharmacists Association of Western New York Executive Director Dennis Galluzzo said, "Usually people that are on something like Vicodin or Lortabs or Hydrocodone for a long period of time and they're not working, these patches are good because they're applied once to the skin and they're good for three days."

But drug addicts don't want to wait three days.

Lt. Sliwinski says they find creative ways feel the effects faster, "They'll boil out the active ingredient, then they'll inject it. They'll freeze it. They'll cut it up into small pieces and put it underneath their tongue. That's called a chicklet. Another way they'll do it is smear the gel onto a hot light bulb and inhale it and get it into their system that way."

One of the patches in a pharmacy goes for about $15. But on the black market, police say a drug dealer could get anywhere from $100 to $200 a pop.

Lt. Sliwinski said, "It's basically the same high as heroin. That's why heroin users go after these."

A drug user could get 50 doses out of one patch, so those unfamiliar with it could easily use too much.

Galluzzo said, "(It is) very dangerous. The problem is that it will lower the respiration rate to a very deadly low and they can die of not being able to breathe. They can literally suffocate because they cannot breathe."

As the popularity grows, inevitably so will the number of Fentanyl-related deaths.