Fentanyl-Laced Heroin

To the Editor.— The article1on drug overdose deaths associated with fentanyl in Pennsylvania was timely and revealing. Readers in the tristate area (New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut) were made aware of the presence of fentanyl in the illegal heroin market through radio, television, and newspapers during early February. As the ethnographer for the Paterson (NJ) Health Behavior Project, I interviewed 28 drug users during the "epidemic," 24 of whom were searching for "Tango and Cash," the brand of heroin contaminated with fentanyl. Earlier ethnographic research2has noted that heroin overdoses create a demand for that "bag of dope." The effects of the media campaign must be interpreted in the context of drug users. In Paterson, there were two drug overdose deaths and 10 overdoses. Flirting with possible overdose only confirmed this subculture's belief in the purity of heroin. Victims were said to have become greedy when