MARCOCCI: HEROIN DEATHS ON RISE IN REGION

WASHINGTON: Twelve heroin deaths have been reported in Westmoreland County since Jan. 1, Westmoreland County Detective Tony Marcocci told a U.S. House committee Thursday.

He answered questions from an oversight committee that wants more federal
emphasis placed on Colombian heroin.

Westmoreland's dozen might soon become 13 if the toxicology report on
another case comes back with proof, Westmoreland County Coroner Ken Bacha
said. The 12 are ages 19 to 46. Ten are men, two are women and all are white.

For comparison, there were six heroin deaths in the county from 1997 to 2001.

"I wouldn't be surprised if the total doubles because it can also be
involved in some traffic deaths," Bacha said.

Another 12 have died in Butler County -- a much smaller area than
Westmoreland County -- and two heroin deaths have been reported in
Armstrong County thus far this year.

An unknown number of Allegheny County heroin deaths are actually Butler,
Armstrong or Westmoreland county residents who died in Pittsburgh hospitals
and are counted with the larger county's total, coroners said.

Nevertheless, during the first 10 months of the year 36 people died in
Allegheny County from heroin and 36 others died from heroin used with
another drug or alcohol, county toxicologist Steve A. Koehler said this week.

That means that at least 98 people have died in the Valley in 2002,
according to coroners and their staff. The number is expected to jump when
the Allegheny County laboratory completes toxicology tests for suspected
heroin cases since October, Koehler said.

Allegheny County's 180 overdose deaths in 2001 include 68 in Pittsburgh,
one each in Aspinwall, Fawn, Natrona Heights and Verona, two in Glenshaw
and three in Monroeville. About 73 percent of the overdose deaths involved
heroin, with heroin alone causing 59 of those deaths and heroin in
combination causing the remaining 131, according to a draft report.

Most Allegheny County heroin deaths happened in April, June and November.
The fewest happened in March, May and September. Most happened on Tuesday
and Saturday; the least on Mondays, according to the report.

The Princeton-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation estimates heroin and
cocaine were involved in 70 percent of the nation's drug deaths since the
1980s. It said drug deaths are underestimated because official drug death
numbers don't include drug-related traffic deaths, homicides, falls or
associated deaths from AIDS or infection.

Non-users can also fall victim to illegal drugs, the report claims, through
drug-related violence, drug withdrawal syndrome in newborns or traffic
crashes caused by impaired drivers.

"The precise number of these deaths is not known, but they cannot be
overlooked in recounting the human toll and significant societal cost of
illicit drug abuse," the foundation concluded.