Drug that Killed Prince Wreaks Havoc in U.S.

Fans mourned when the musician Prince overdosed on an extremely potent heroin variant named fentanyl. But Prince may be yet another tragic casualty of something Americans ignore at their peril. New evidence suggests that the American heroin epidemic — heroin use went up over 300 percent between 2007 and 2014 — is responsible for a demonstrable spike in deaths. And Mexican drug cartels, which produce fentanyl, are the culprits.

In fact, fentanyl’s potency may be responsible for the lion’s share of the heroin-related deaths in the United States. Last year in New Hampshire — where the heroin crisis is most severe — an astounding 70 percent of all overdose deaths involved fentanyl. A similar pattern is evident in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, where Cleveland is located, with 64 percent of all overdose fatalities resulting from fentanyl. Statewide, Ohio’s fentanyl-related deaths were up 600 percent in 2014.