POLICE TARGET HEROIN DEALERS

WORCESTER-- City health and law enforcement officials say they intend to
step up procedures for prosecuting heroin dealers and tracking drug-caused
deaths to address the rising incidence of overdose deaths in Worcester.

The officials say a number of actions are being considered to cope with a
drug overdose death rate that some have linked to the availability of
cheaper, stronger heroin on the streets.

District Attorney John J. Conte said yesterday that his office will
continue efforts to prosecute dealers who supply lethal doses of heroin to
users. He noted that his office is prosecuting two people in connection
with a fatal heroin overdose in Leominster, and federal charges are
expected in a third case involving another heroin overdose being handled by
the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

He also said he will work to reinstate a "drug court" program in Worcester
District Court that focuses specifically on narcotics cases and would
require that those convicted of drug charges take part in strict treatment
and monitoring programs. The district attorney noted that a $300,000
federal grant was obtained last year to launch the program in Worcester
District Court, but that it was dropped when no additional money could be
secured.

A recent review of death certificates requested by the City Council found
that there have been at least 242 drug overdose deaths in the city since
January 1996.

Mr. Conte, however, maintained that the number includes overdose deaths
caused by drugs and alcohol. He and City Manager Thomas R. Hoover said
yesterday that efforts are under way to define more specifically the causes
of death in such cases.

Mr. Hoover said a new computer link has been established between the City
Clerk's office, which records death certificates, and the city's Health
Department, which can help sort out the exact causes of overdose deaths.

Francis X. Birch, acting director of Public Health, said the link will
enable the two offices to file weekly reports on overdose deaths.

Mr. Conte said that although crime rates in most categories have been
reduced over the past 10 years, drugs remain a significant problem in the city.

"The best statistics we have," he said, estimate there are about 3,000
heroin addicts in Worcester, he said.

Worcester Police Chief James M. Gallagher said prosecution of dealers in
cases of deaths from illegal drugs can be complicated and difficult because
of the unreliability of witnesses and circumstances of such deaths.

"We always try to identify the dealer" when heroin overdoses occur, he
said. The chief added, however, that dealer culpability in such cases is
difficult to prove because victims generally inject the drug themselves.

"We are going to try to step up our intelligence on where the drugs are
coming from," he said. "We could do more if we had a larger Vice Squad.

"We are going to take a little more proactive approach to go after the main
dealers," Chief Gallagher added. "If we can knock them off, it can slow
things down for a while."

Vice Squad Sgt. Mark A. Coyle said prosecuting drug dealers on manslaughter
or homicide charges are "a really complicated thing."

Too often, he said, witnesses are drug addicts themselves and are reluctant
to testify against dealers. Also, proving a particular heroin sale was
responsible for a person's death is difficult.

"There are a lot more victims than the people who die," the sergeant added.
"There are families ... who have usually already dealt with so much."

He noted that heroin deaths are up throughout the country because the
supply is plentiful and more pure heroin is being sold on the streets.

"This has been going on for awhile," he said. "It is not a question of
whether anything is being done. It's more a question that no one knows the
answer."

"We lock them up and lock them up and lock them up," Sgt. Coyle said of
drug dealers arrested by city police. "But there seems to be an endless
supply of dealers."

Heroin overdoses, he added, "are a daily thing" in Worcester and are not
fatal in all cases.

He said EMTs now can revive overdose victims on the street.

"I've seen them get up and walk away after they were out cold," the
sergeant said.