THE WAR OVER DRUGS: ONE THAT KILLS, ONE THAT SAVES

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.

TED KOPPEL, ABCNEWS More people die of heroin overdoses here, per capita,
than anyplace in the country.

OLIVAMA SANDOVAL (ph) There's a lot of guys here in this little town that
have OD'd. A lot of them are good persons, or good guys.

TED KOPPEL For the first time, addicts can take home an anti-overdose drug.

MURRAY RYAN It's quick and easy. They take the needle off and they can
inject it essentially anywhere in the body.

ALEX VALDEZ, NEW MEXICO SECRETARY OF HEALTH And we know that the people
that are dying are those that are not seeking treatment. Then, let's figure
out how to get something to them so that they're not dying, and so that we
can get them into treatment.

MICHAEL TRUJILLO (ph) What I'm going to do would kill three men, and I want
to remain as I am now, because it's just enough to keep me stable.

TED KOPPEL Tonight, the war over drugs, one that kills, one that saves.

ANNOUNCER From ABCNEWS, this is Nightline. Reporting from Washington, Ted
Koppel.

TED KOPPEL A lot of people with severe allergic conditions-people who, for
example, are extremely allergic to the sting of a bee or a wasp-can, in a
matter of minutes, go into shock. The individual's tongue, or the inside of
his throat can swell so badly that he can choke to death. Doctors routinely
prescribe a dose of adrenaline that can be self-administered in the form of
a simple injection. People who are vulnerable that way simply carry it with
them whenever they're outdoors.

But what if a comparable kind of treatment were available to heroin addicts
who have overdosed? They, too, are in danger of dying, but since their
condition is a function of engaging in an illegal practice, should they be
permitted to carry with them a syringe containing a medicine that would
save their lives? It's not a hypothetical question. The drug exists and it
is capable of saving the lives of heroin addicts who have overdosed. But
would a government program making such a drug available simply excuse and
therefore increase illegal behavior? It's a question that has been
addressed head-on by the governor of New Mexico who is a conservative
Republican and personally opposed to drug use. But he believes that our
first responsibility is to save lives, and he does not exclude drug
addicts. I'll be talking to him a little later on in this broadcast. But
first, you have to understand how bad conditions are in at least one corner
of New Mexico. Here's the background from Judy Muller.

JUDY MULLER, ABCNEWS 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.

MICHAEL TRUJILLO What do we do from here?

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

MICHAEL 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.

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

MICHAEL 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-a drug family.

JUDY MULLER (VO) And heroin is taking an enormous toll on these families.

OLIVAMA SANDOVAL He hasn't left me.

JUDY MULLER (VO) Just ask Olivama Sandoval, who lost her son, Alan (ph).

OLIVAMA SANDOVAL That was taken about a year and a half before he passed
away. He had gotten out of the rehab center.

JUDY MULLER And how old was he when he passed away?

OLIVAMA SANDOVAL Thirty-six.

JUDY MULLER (VO) He had been in and out of rehab five times and was on the
waiting list to return.

OLIVAMA SANDOVAL He admitted to me that he was doing drugs, and he couldn't
handle it anymore. But he wasn't doing it because he wanted to, but because
he had to. He-he couldn't stop anymore.

JUDY MULLER (VO) Alan overdosed right after attending the funeral of a
friend who had died the same way.

OLIVAMA SANDOVAL It's-it's hard. It's very sad. It hurts a lot-a lot. And
there's nothing you can do about it. I know he's gone and I know he's not
coming back.

JUDY MULLER Alan Sandoval was buried here, just a few feet from the grave
of his best friend. And they're not the only overdose victims in these
local cemeteries. 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.

JUDY MULLER Including drug traffickers?

WAYNE SALAZAR Including drug trafficking.

JUDY MULLER (VO) And then there's the problem of inter-generational drug
use. In this county, heroin is often a family affair, from grandparents on
down. Phillip Gonzalez (ph) is one of 10 children.

PHILLIP GONZALEZ Two brothers and myself both ended up in prison over
drugs. I've had two sisters that have ended up in prison over drugs. Plus,
I had a sister who has been on drugs but is in treatment now.

JUDY MULLER Seven out of 10 children?

PHILLIP GONZALEZ Yes.

JUDY MULLER Gonzalez now counsels other addicts.

PHILLIP GONZALEZ My baby sister died of an overdose of heroin. That changed
my life.

JUDY MULLER (VO) But changing your life isn't easy when circumstances
around you remain the same, grinding poverty and high unemployment.

PHILLIP GONZALEZ I think right now that-that there's not hope-there's not
much hope because people don't see many people, especially here in
Espanola, that actually are able to beat the disease of heroin. And heroin
is tough.

JUDY MULLER (VO) Ray Salazar (ph) knows how tough, even in
prison-especially in prison.

RAY SALAZAR When I was in prison, it's easier to get drugs. But when I was
in prison, I-I said to myself, 'You know, I have two beautiful kids, I'm a
single parent.' And I-I said to myself, 'If-this place, it's easier to get
here than it is out there. If I can-if I can say no here, I know I can say
no out there.'

JUDY MULLER (VO) He's managed to stay clean for quite a while now, but at a
cost.

RAY SALAZAR I have no friends.

JUDY MULLER Why?

RAY SALAZAR Because my friends, what I have left, are drug addicts and
alcoholics. And if I go back to play-hang around with them again, I know
what's going to happen. I'm going to start over again and I don't want
that. I don't want that.

JUDY MULLER (VO) But the hardest thing about kicking heroin is heroin itself.

REBECCA YANIZ (ph) I couldn't function without it. I-I couldn't shower, you
know. I couldn't get ready, you know. I couldn't get out of bed without it.

JUDY MULLER (VO) Rebecca Yaniz lost her husband to an overdose last year.
She's been clean for two months now. But heroin is always a powerful
temptation.

REBECCA YANIZ It makes you forget about everything.

JUDY MULLER It does?

REBECCA YANIZ Yeah. It does. I mean, you don't have to think about going
out and-I mean, if you're not working, I mean, what else do you have to
look forward to? It's sad but, you know?

JUDY MULLER It feels good right then?

REBECCA YANIZ Oh, yeah.

MICHAEL TRUJILLO When you-when you-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.

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

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

JUDY MULLER (VO) Which, in turn, has led to a rise in the area's crime rate.

WAYNE SALAZAR I know of one particular individual that, you know, used 25
caps of heroin a day.

JUDY MULLER Which is how much money?

WAYNE SALAZAR Which is-which calculates to $700 a day. You know, this
particular individual didn't have a job, was unemployed. Yet, he had a
$700-a-day habit.

JUDY MULLER (VO) 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.

ALEX VALDEZ We've always measured our activity on this issue by, 'How many
kilos did we seize? How many arrests have we made?' We've never measured it
by how have we've-we've reduced the rate of death in our community.

JUDY MULLER (VO) This month, New Mexico launched a pioneering plan for
reducing that death rate by helping addicts help themselves.

TED KOPPEL New Mexico's novel approach to prevent fatal overdoses. Part two
of Judy Muller's report when we come back.

ANNOUNCER This is ABCNEWS: Nightline, brought to you by...

(Commercial break)

TED KOPPEL It's a policy that New Mexico officials say comes out of dire
need: providing needles and life-saving drugs to heroin addicts. Once
again, here's correspondent Judy Muller.

JUDY MULLER (VO) 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.

MURRAY RYAN 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.

JUDY 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.

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.

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

ALEX MASCARENAS No.

JUDY MULLER Why?

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

JUDY 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.

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

JUDY MULLER And that's never been done before?

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

JUDY 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.

MURRAY RYAN Quick and easy. They take the needle off and they can inject
it, essentially, anywhere in the body.

JUDY MULLER So, you don't have to be an expert to use this?

MURRAY RYAN No. You can push it through the clothes, you can do anything.
Just as long as you hit some kind of tissue in the body, it's going to work.

MAN He's-he's a cool doctor. And he cares, like, for, like, us and everything.

JUDY MULLER (VO) Addicts, like this 19-year-old, trust the local doctors
because here they are treated as patients, not criminals. On this day, Dr.
Ryan went over the steps for using the Narcan kit, beginning with CPR.

MURRAY RYAN The real important thing that kills people that die of
overdoses is breathing. What's the second thing you're supposed to do?

JUDY MULLER (VO) But there's a lot of room for error in this process-a good
thing when it comes to one addict helping another.

MAN I've never OD'd myself, no. So, I don't know what it feels like.

JUDY MULLER Do you worry about that?

MAN Actually, I do. One of these days, you never know how good the stuff's
going to be or what, what you're getting, if it's good or bad.

JUDY MULLER This chapel in the village of Chimayo has been called the Lords
of America because the faithful believe that the soil here has miraculous
healing powers. But this village is also the center of the county's drug
trade. And no one believes there are any miracle cures when it comes to the
disease of heroin addiction. (VO) But handing out Narcan to addicts could
at least save lives. Health officials say they already know of one case.

DR STEVE JENISON, NEW MEXICO DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH By report, the person was
blue and not breathing when 911 was called. But by the time the emergency
crew showed up, the person was breathing again.

JUDY MULLER So, why hasn't this inexpensive antidote been handed out
before? Dr. Ryan believes it has to do with prejudice against addicts.

MURRAY RYAN If people die on airplanes from ventricular vibration, 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.

JUDY 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?

MURRAY 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.

JUDY 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.

WAYNE 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.

JUDY MULLER (VO) And saving a life can sometimes be the first step towards
recovery.

BETTE FLEISHMAN, DIRECTOR, AMISTAD RECOVERY CENTER Narcan is great because
it keeps people alive. And if someone has almost died when they're
overdosing, it's a phenomenal time to access them in terms of getting some
help.

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

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.

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

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

JUDY MULLER Even if you didn't appreciate it?

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

JUDY MULLER (VO) Then again...

OLIVAMA SANDOVAL I would have done anything to save Alan. If that drug
would have been offered to me, I probably would have had it here.

MAN It'll come in handy one of these days. And I believe it will. You never
know when somebody's going to go down.

REBECCA YANIZ It would have saved his life.

JUDY MULLER Are you sorry it wasn't around then?

REBECCA YANIZ Yeah. Yeah.

RAY SALAZAR Even though I don't think it would ever happen to me again, I
would still love to have it in my house, because you never know from one
day to the next. Like I say, heroin is-it's like the devil. It's always
picking at you.

JUDY MULLER (VO) Like the devil, a devil of despair.

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

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

TED KOPPEL When we come back, New Mexico's governor, a leading voice for
treating drugs as a medical, not a criminal problem, in a moment.

(Commercial break)

TED KOPPEL And joining us now from Sante Fe, the Republican governor of New
Mexico, Gary Johnson. A lot of-lot of conflict when you first decided to
use this? When I say conflict, internal conflict.

GOVERNOR GARY JOHNSON, REPUBLICAN, NEW MEXICO Well, you know, again, I
think-I think we need to treat drugs from the standpoint of, are we going
to save lives? Are we going to treat the-this problems as a medical problem
or are we going to continue to treat this problem as 'Let's arrest them and
let's throw them in jail' problem? Clearly, 80 million Americans have done
illegal drugs. I think it's time for a different approach to all of this.
Right now, we have proposed eight bills in New Mexico that we be-we believe
will reduce the harm done by drugs. And when I talk about harm, I'm talking
about reducing violent crime, I'm talking about reducing pri-property
crime, I'm talking about reducing overdose, hepatitis-C, AIDS-all those
things associated with drugs and the harmful effects that drugs create.
Talking about Narcan, the ability to be able to go out and-and rather than
law enforcement look at first who are they going to arrest because there's
heroin on the scene, that law enforcement first look at let's save-save the
life-the life of a person involved in an overdose first. First and
foremost. And then, from there let's deal with the other issues on the scene.

TED KOPPEL Well, first of all, let me say I'm-I'm glad that you've made it
clear that this is part of a much larger program and-and that there are
many other facets to the program. But I think what you must realize is by
far the most controversial thing that you're suggesting is not that law
enforcement officers would be in a position to administer Narcan, or for
that matter, if an ambulance comes onto the scene, but the suggestion, as I
understand it, is that people would be allowed-that heroin users would be
allowed to carry Narcan with them. Is that correct?

GARY JOHNSON That's correct. There are a number of issues associated with
Narcan and it's-and the administrating of it. What we wanted-we do-do are
reduce liabilities so that first and foremost the person dying from
overdose might actually get their lives saved by having Narcan administered.

TED KOPPEL Now, who would be the person to administer it? Because again, as
we heard in Judy Muller's report, someone who is in the grips of a heroin
high-last thing he or she wants to do is, sometimes, A, is live, but, B,
even if they want to live, they want to live after they've enjoyed
the-the-the full effect of the heroin rush. They don't want to interrupt it
by administering Narcan to themselves.

GARY JOHNSON Well, again, there-there-there comes-these-these issues all
come to play. Bottom line, we want to be able to save lives. That-that is
the bottom line here. Inter-interrupting a high, I think, is secondary to
saving a life, and that's what this is all about, is saving lives.

TED KOPPEL Governor, as you know, I-I introduced you at the top of this
program as a conservative Republican. Those are extraordinary things to
hear from a conservative Republican. Should they be?

GARY JOHNSON Well, I think this is very Republican. And by 'very
Republican,' Ted, fundamentally, if you're smoking marijuana in the
confines of your own home, doing no harm to anybody, arguably, other than
yourself, do you belong in jail for doing that? I do not believe you belong
in jail for doing that. Now, let's draw a line here. You smoke marijuana,
you do harm to somebody else-you smoke marijuana, you get in a car and
drive, that's going to be illegal. It's always going to be illegal. It's
always going to be illegal for kids to do drugs or to sell drugs to kids,
similar to alcohol. You know, when it comes to alcohol, if you or I were to
read in the paper tomorrow that alcohol use is up, you know what we would
probably think? We would probably think, 'Who cares? Alcohol use is up and
down.' But what we do care about is we do care about, 'Is DWI on the rise?
Are-deaths associated with drinking, are they up or are they down? Disease
caused by alcohol up or down? Violence caused by alcohol, up or down?'
These are the things that we should be concerned with when it comes to drug
use.

TED KOPPEL All right. Governor Johnson...

GARY JOHNSON And we're not.

TED KOPPEL We have to take...

GARY JOHNSON And we're not.

TED KOPPEL We have to take a short break. We'll be back with one more quick
question or two in a moment.

ANNOUNCER To receive a daily e-mail about each evening's Nightline, and a
preview of special broadcasts, logon to our Web page at nightline.abcnews.com.

(Commercial break)

TED KOPPEL And we're back again with New Mexico's Governor Gary Johnson.
Governor Johnson, what kind of heat have you been getting locally in New
Mexico and from your Republican colleagues around the country?

GARY JOHNSON Well, I don't think it's Republicans. I don't think it's
Democrats. It's-it's all sides. It's very misunderstood. The-the-the
primary point here to be made is 'Don't do drugs.' All right? This is not
about doing drugs, not about doing alcohol. It's not about doing tobacco.
But at one point in this country's history, let's not forget that it was
criminal to have a drink. And let's draw a distinction here: You drink and
you get in a car, that's going to be criminal. You drink, you do harm to
somebody else, that's going to be criminal. You drink and you go out
and-and-go out and do some sort of violent crime, that's criminal. Those
same things should apply when it comes to drugs.

TED KOPPEL Governor, we're-we're...

GARY JOHNSON But smoking marijuana in the confines of your own home, doing
no harm to anybody other than yourself, do you belong in jail for that? I
think we've gone past that in this country.

TED KOPPEL Governor, I guarantee you, we'll be talking again and I thank
you for coming in this evening.

GARY JOHNSON Thank you very much for having me on.

TED KOPPEL And that's our report for tonight. I'm Ted Koppel in Washington.
For all of us here at ABCNEWS, good night.