Philip Seymour Hoffman's death is one more in a rash of overdoses hitting the Northeast right now, apparently due to heroin laced with a powerful synthetic opioid called fentanyl.

The Stranger ran a story on its appearance in the Seattle area a couple of years ago. With the proper equipment, fentanyl, like all synthetic drugs, is easier to manufacture and conceal than the more land- and labor-intensive agricultural operations needed to produce heroin, cocaine, etc. But unless fentanyl is mixed into heroin very precisely and evenly, the strength of the resulting drug can vary dramatically—and dangerously—from one hit to the next.

From the Huffington Post:

Allegheny County medical examiner Dr. Karl Williams said Thursday that laboratory tests confirmed that the ultra-potent painkiller fentanyl was present in heroin samples seized in connection with at least 14 overdose deaths in Pennsylvania, according to the Pittsburgh Gazette.

Medical examiners in Rhode Island found fentanyl-like synthetics affiliated with 13 heroin overdoses in January. Maryland has reported 37 such overdoses since September. And just a couple of weeks ago, I overheard opiate users in a public bathroom talking about having to give several people naloxone in recent weeks to halt overdoses from strong drugs on the market these days.

If you or people you know are using opiates, please visit stopoverdose.org and familiarize yourself with naloxone—it's available in Seattle as either a nasal spray or an "epi-pen" style injection. And it saves lives.