EXCERPT FROM "NIGHTLINE" ON CONTROVERSIAL TREATMENT FOR HEROIN ADDICTS

(Beginning of excerpt from "Nightline")

JUDY MULLER reporting:

Rio Arriba County in northern New Mexico is a place of incredible beauty,
with miles and miles of pristine wilderness dotted with 18th century adobe
homes and churches.

Mr. TRUJILLO: What do we do from here?

MULLER: (VO) It is also a place of terrible poverty and despair, where
heroin addiction is epidemic.

Mr. TRUJILLO: I'm going to do $ 100 worth, and it's not going to--all it's
going to do to me is get me right.

MULLER: (VO) Michael Trujillo--seen here in video shot by freelance
photographer Manuel Machuca--is like hundreds of other addicts in this area
who were introduced to heroin at home.

Mr. TRUJILLO: At 14 years old, I got my first gram of heroin from my
father, my brother, and my uncles because we were all addicts.

MULLER: There've been 100 fatal overdoses in the last five years in Rio
Arriba County. That's triple the national average. In fact, it's the
worst fatality overdose rate per capita in the entire country.

(VO) Why here? First of all, there's the proximity to Mexico and its
potent black tar heroin. The so-called 'black path' of the heroin trade
cuts right through the county seat of Espanola.

Chief WAYNE SALAZAR (Espanola Police Department): To get into any part of
southern Colorado, or even southern New Mexico, you have to go through
Espanola. This is a main thoroughfare for anybody traveling through New
Mexico and into other states.

MULLER: Including drug traffickers?

Chief SALAZAR: Including drug trafficking.

Mr. TRUJILLO: When you use heroin, it eases physically your whole body. The
house could be falling down on you, and you don't--don't make no difference
because it's the closest feeling to being dead.

MULLER: (VO) Michael Trujillo has a job, but it doesn't always pay enough
to support his habit.

Mr. TRUJILLO: I have friends. They have done, and will do, anything the
mind could possibly think of, and then some, to get their fix.

MULLER: (VO) Which, in turn, has led to a rise in the area's crime rate.
But even as Rio Arriba County tries to crack down on drug-related crime, it
has just become the centerpiece of a brand new program--a radical shift
from punishment to treatment, from interdiction to intervention. There are
many reasons why the graveyards in Rio Arriba County are filling up with
overdose victims. But one reason stands out: Victims simply don't get the
help they need until it's too late.

Dr. MURRAY RYAN (Espanola Hospital): Essentially, a car comes up by the
outside door of the emergency room, honks their horn, rolls somebody out
and leaves, because they want no involvement with any kind of official law
enforcement, anything. And then, we run out in the parking lot and there's
somebody maybe dead, maybe one or two minutes from death.

MULLER: (VO) In fact, overdoses are so routine here that efforts to revive
victims are often a family affair. Alex Mascarenas saw his mother OD in
front of him.

Mr. ALEX MASCARENAS: I gave her some CPR, and then I threw her in the
shower. And I gave her some cold water and then laid her down again and
gave her some CPR, then brought her back.

MULLER: But you didn't call 911 or the police?

Mr. MASCARENAS: No.

MULLER: Why?

Mr. MASCARENAS: I don't know. I-I just thought maybe I would get in
trouble, you know?

MULLER: (VO) It was a close call. Today, her odds of survival would be
much greater, thanks to a new approach to this very old problem. A few
weeks ago, New Mexico's secretary of health authorized the direct
distribution of a life-saving, anti-overdose drug called Naloxone, more
commonly known by the trade name Narcan.

Mr. VALDEZ: The policy is one of directly prescribing Narcan from a
physician to an addict.

MULLER: And that's never been done before?

Mr. VALDEZ: To the best of my knowledge, it's never been done before.

MULLER: (VO) Although Narcan has been used in hospitals for many years to
revive people from overdoses or heavy sedation, it's never been considered
a home remedy before. So, why hasn't this inexpensive antidote been handed
out before? Dr. Ryan believes it has to do with prejudice against addicts.

Dr. RYAN: If people die on airplanes from ventricular vibrillation, a
diabetic dies of an insulin shock, a person allergic to bee stings dies of
bee stings, we do everything we can to stop it, prevent it, treat it.
Heroin addicts die and there's no concern.

MULLER: (VO) Other cities, such as Vancouver, are considering Narcan
handouts. But there may be political opposition similar to criticism of
condom distribution in schools or clean needle exchanges. Which raises a
question: Will Narcan actually encourage heroin use?

Dr. RYAN: I believe the heroin addicts I know have pretty much given up
anyway, and they don't care if they live or die. So I really don't think
for a second it's going to encourage them to use heroin.

MULLER: (VO) Even the police chief--hardly a soft touch on drugs--is
backing the plan. In fact, he thinks his officers should carry Narcan.

Chief SALAZAR: It would be no different than if we responded to the scene
of a bad accident where we had to perform CPR or first aid.

MULLER: (VO) Betty Jean Ross, who used heroin for 30 years, was not
grateful the first time ER doctors saved her with Narcan.

Ms. BETTY JEAN ROSS: I got really upset, and I cussed out the doctors and
asked them, you know, why did they do that? They ruined my high.

MULLER: (VO) She was saved a second time by Narcan and got clean.

Ms. ROSS: It saved my life twice. And you know, that's what it...

MULLER: Even if you didn't appreciate it?

Ms. ROSS: Even if I didn't appreciate it. And I'm sure, you know, some
people probably won't appreciate it, or they think they won't.

Mr. TRUJILLO: Electrified, paralyzed, look in my eyes. Illusion, confusion
without compromise. Consolation, segregation, darkness and meditation. In
dying, will I rise.

MULLER: (VO) I'm Judy Muller, for NIGHTLINE, in Espanola, New Mexico.

(End of excerpt from "Nightline")

DAHLER: That was some of last night's "Nightline."

ALISON STEWART, co-anchor: You can always e-mail us about your thoughts on
that story or anything you've seen this morning at wnn@abcnews.com. You're
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