Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 6, 1993 TAG: 9309060084
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium
The state medical examiner's office in Norfolk said the deaths, all in the city's East End, represent more than half of the total number of fatal heroin overdoses in Hampton Roads.
A regular heroin addict usually knows the amount of the drug he or she can safely inject, said Leah Bush, assistant chief medical examiner for the Tidewater district.
"But if the supplier increases the percentage of heroin in the packet - let's say, doubles it - then he gets twice the usual dosage, and it can stop the breathing and kill him," she said.
Joe Gaskins, assistant police chief for Newport News, said he doesn't know if the killer heroin is extraordinarily pure or just "a bad batch."
Whenever possible, police collect samples of heroin for testing. But this is hard to accomplish because 10 grams is needed to accurately analyze the strength, potency and purity of heroin, Gaskins said. Heroin is often sold on the street in quantities of 0.03 gram.
The average strength of heroin on the street is 2 percent to 3 percent, Gaskins said. The drug can be much more potent. He said one police department in North Carolina reportedly found heroin that was 90 percent pure.
The seven overdose victims ranged in age from 30 to 41 years. Five were men, Gaskins said. The deaths occurred between January and July 14.
No figures were available on the number of heroin users who were treated by paramedics and survived.
Four people died from drug overdoses during the first seven months of 1992 in Newport News, said police spokeswoman Lynn James. But only one of the deaths was blamed on heroin. The others were cocaine-related, she said.
The source of the heroin that killed the seven people this year is unknown.
Toxicology tests on the victims showed lethal levels of morphine in each, Gaskins said. After heroin enters the body, the chemical breaks down and becomes morphine.
In several of the victims, the medical examiner found cocaine and morphine in the bodies, a clue that the victims probably mixed the drugs in a cooking process to make "speedballs." Addicts sometimes prefer speedballs, a mix of cocaine and heroin, because it gives a stronger high.
Heroin overdoses are nothing new, according to Lt. Marvin Evans, head of the police department's vice and narcotics unit. But the number of fatal overdoses seems to be climbing.
Since most addicts won't identify their sources, it's hard for police to track down, Evans said. The mounting death toll may be the only way police can warn addicts.
"The thing about this is that we can't talk to these people," Gaskins said. "The only thing we can do is try to make people aware that there is definitely a problem."
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB