
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 16, 1994                   TAG: 9407160042
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

NEW, PURER HEROIN KILLING RESIDENTS

An extremely potent form of heroin has killed three Roanoke Valley residents in the past five months, initiating a warning Friday from the Roanoke Valley Drug and Alcohol Abuse Council.

The council said the deaths occurred when abusers took accidental overdoses because they were unaware of the substance's potency. The names of the victims, or where they lived, were not released by the council.

The purity of the heroin that has recently been seen on the street is between 50 percent and 60 percent, as opposed to the usual 10 percent and 20 percent, said Judge Philip Trompeter, chairman of the council. Trompeter said the council does not know why or how the purer form of heroin has arrived in the Roanoke Valley.

The council meets monthly to find better methods of drug-abuse treatment and prevention.

by CNB