DEADLY HEROIN BACK ON STREETS Docs fear for addicts

KILLER heroin which claimed the lives of 18 addicts is back on the streets
of Scotland.

One homeless junkie has already been found dead and another user is
seriously ill in hospital.

Addicts die in agnoy from the so-called Black Disease within hours of
injecting the lethal heroin.

The contaminated heroin turns flesh black and rotten and causes liver and
kidney failure.

Health boards in two different areas last night warned users not to inject
the deadly drug as pathologists prepared to carry out a post mortem on the
dead addict to confirm that the deadly heroin is the cause.

Greater Glasgow Health Board and Argyll and Clyde Health Board issued a
public alert about the dangers of the contaminated drugs.

Dr Jim McMenamin, consultant in public health in Glasgow, said: "This
illness is reminiscent of the outbreak of severe infection that affected
drug injectors last year.

"For that reason we have taken the unusual step of informing medical
services and drug agencies at the earliest opportunities of our
investigations before we are certain that a widespread problem exists.

"We would advise users not to inject and if their addiction is such that
they must take heroin, it should be smoked and not injected."

Ten women and eight men died last summer after using heroin infected with a
bacteria called clostridium, which is similar to botulism.

The bug is found in soil and experts believe the killer batch, which came
from Afghanistan, could have been contaminated as a result of being stored
near farm animals and their waste.

A fatal accident inquiry into last year's death was due to be held in June
but was delayed until October 29.

It will be the largest FAI since the Dunblane tragedy.

The victims ranged from 19-year-old Andrea McQuilter of Sighthill, Glasgow,
to the oldest victim Alfred Miller, 39, of Cardonald.

Addicts in Glasgow began to die suddenly last May and 16 lost their lives
in the first month alone.

Two weeks later, eight users died in Dublin within days of each other and
another 13 died throughout England.