Chicagoland is reeling from a spike in heroin deaths over the past several months. The drug—a new kind with a higher potency—is making its way from Asia, Central America and South America to the city and being distributed throughout the area.

In Will County alone, there have been 12 deaths this year from heroin use and abuse, said Will County coroner Pat O’Neil. In 2008, the county recorded 14 deaths from heroin and two “suspected heroin-related deaths.”

“[Heroin use] is replacing cocaine in Will County,” O’Neil said. “So, it must be more readily available, and it’s highly addictive.”

The heroin recently coming into the Chicagoland area is a much more potent form than what is normally seen in the region, O’Neil said. He said normal heroin potency, or purity, is between 10 and 15 percent concentrated, and that is what users in the Chicagoland area are used to. Getting a higher, unknown dose can be fatal, and the way the heroin is cut determines its potency.

“The potency of the heroin has increased, so someone who is a first-time user is dying because they don’t have a tolerance,” O’Neil said. “People who have a tolerance of the normal 13 or 14 percent purity heroin are taking something that is 25 to 30 percent pure, and they are dying, too.”

In Lake County, the number of heroin-related deaths is similar to Will County, and coroner Richard Keller said he thinks the increase is a sign of very high potency and an increase in usage by people in all age groups.

“Including December [2008], when we really started looking at this trend, we had 20 deaths from heroin in Lake County,” Keller said. “We usually have about two a month, but it was really bad when last December we suddenly had eight deaths from heroin. It really caught our attention.”

The Lake County Coroner’s Office took samples of heroin they found at death scenes and sent them to the Drug Enforcement Administration to be examined. The DEA’s results shocked Keller, his colleagues and other coroner’s offices across the region.

“One of the [tested] samples was 23 percent pure, and the other was 65 percent pure,” Keller said. “That is a significant increase. Even 23 percent is a 50 percent increase over 15 percent.”

When it comes to similar instances of heroin increase in the past, Keller said he has never seen one quite this severe.

In 2006, however, the Chicagoland area saw an increase in heroin being combined with the dangerous, synthetic opiate fentanyl, according to DEA spokeswoman Joanna Desanto. She said that was the closest thing the region has experienced when compared to the recent spike in heroin-related deaths.

“In 2006, there was a fentanyl scare in the Chicago area, but the DEA and the Chicago Police Department and other law enforcement were able to shut down the lab in Mexico that was producing the fentanyl,” Desanto said.

So far, investigations into the potent heroin have not had such luck, but the DEA is working to find the drug’s origin. its production.

“Sixty-five percent [purity] is abnormally high,” Desanto said. “We have had an increase in heroin users, and there’s more heroin trying to get into the Chicagoland area.”

Keller agrees with Desanto and said there are more people experimenting with the drug and becoming addicted because of the high potency.

“We’ve seen a few first-time users, but it’s a mixture of people who have been using for a long time and are used to a certain concentration,” Keller said.

The troubled economy is also taking a toll when it comes to heroin use. Heroin is becoming cheaper than prescription medications to purchase, Keller said.

“Now that heroin is becoming cheaper than prescription medications, some of the people who abuse or misuse their prescriptions are switching to heroin,” Keller said.

Heroin costs a couple hundred dollars for a gram, Keller said, but it is still cheaper than many prescriptions. Keller said the more potent and pure heroin is, the easier it is to snort and needles, therefore, are not needed.

“My concern is that this stuff is so pure, we’re going to see more people getting hooked easier,” Keller said. “We’ll see a sustained level or even an increase in use because it’s easier to snort and more potent.”

One of the most dangerous things about this new heroin in the area is how unpredictable it is, O’Neil said.

“The heroin that’s out there, it’s like playing Russian Roulette,” O’Neil said. “You never know what you’re going to get.”