2006 Media Releases:

CAMDEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
JAMES P. LYNCH, ACTING CAMDEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR
MEDIA INFORMATION

June 16, 2006

Acting Camden County Prosecutor James P. Lynch and Camden Police Executive Robert L. Stewart reported that at least a dozen people have been hospitalized today in Camden, N.J., after apparently buying narcotics on the street and injecting the drugs.

The adverse reactions have been marked by respiratory distress and seizures. Most patients have treated at Cooper University Hospital in Camden. At least two are in critical condition. The cases appear to be centered on the area of Broadway in Camden. Lynch and Stewart issued an urgent alert to would-be drug buyers and users to desist from using purported heroin, as well as other narcotics.

“For addicts and recreational users alike, the stakes could not be higher,” Lynch stated. “They have to understand that their next dose of heroin could be their last.”

Authorities have sent numerous narcotics enforcement officers to the area to attempt to identify and arrest drug dealers and try to identify the source or sources of the drugs that are sickening people.

Under New Jersey law, Lynch noted, anyone who sells drugs that cause another person’s death can face serious criminal charges, including drug distribution and causing a drug-induced death, a first-degree crime, and/or homicide charges. An investigation has been ongoing into the source or sources of purported heroin responsible for a rash of fatal reactions to purported heroin in Camden County in mid-April, but no one has been charged with selling the fatal doses.

Samples submitted from the scenes of several non-fatal reactions in April contained fentanyl, a powerful pain reliever believed to be responsible for many of the adverse reactions. Blood test results from the fatal cases are not yet available.