USA: at least 100 people die from bad

Several miles away, police and drug enforcement officials ended two days of discussions on the possible source of the bad heroin that at least 100 people from Chicago to Philadelphia.

Photo: USA: at least 100 people die from bad

The summit that ended Thursday provided officials from 12 states and Washington, D.C., the chance to coordinate their investigations into the spike of fentanyl-related deaths since the beginning of this year, Ogden said at a news conference.

Fentanyl is a legally produced prescription painkiller that is 80 times stronger than morphine. But the type of fentanyl currently being mixed with heroin is most likely manufactured in illicit labs, Ogden said.

He said that just 125 micrograms of the illegal fentanyl - the equivalent of a few grains of salt - are more than enough to kill, the AP reports.

There were outbreaks of fentanyl-laced heroin in the '80s and early '90s, said Arlington, Virginia-based DEA spokeswoman Mary Irene Cooper, who was in Chicago for the meeting. The difference is that the outbreaks aren't isolated this time to one city.