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(Charleston Gazette-Mail, March 27) Heroin laced with fentanyl, a powerful opioid, is causing overdose deaths to skyrocket in West Virginia. Fentanyl is 100 times stronger than morphine, and caused nearly three times the number of overdoses in 2015 compared to 2014. West Virginia has seen the highest drug-related deaths nationwide, with 643 deaths in 2015. Fentanyl is often used for surgery and intense pain, but when mixed with heroin can create a tremendous and addictive high. READ MORE.