DRUG DEATHS ON THE RISE

In 2006, mixing of prescription, street drugs led to numerous deaths
in York County.

Drug users walk a razor's edge between the ultimate high and death,
and, in York County last year, the prescription drug Fentanyl became
the rage, according to the York County Corner's Office.

Between May and August, 11 people died from overdosing on a
combination of drugs, said York County Coroner Barry Bloss, who
released his annual report Tuesday.

Fentanyl, a narcotic used to relieve pain in cancer patients, was
part of a lethal cocktail that killed those 11 people, Bloss said.

"There, for a while, that stuff was really taking off," he said.
"Taking it with cocaine, heroin, alcohol. ... The mixture is what
kills you."

Oxycodone, another narcotic pain reliever, was present in eight
overdoses in 2006, Bloss said.

There were 37 overdose deaths in 2006 - the highest number of drug
deaths in York County since the coroner's office began recording them
in 1994, Bloss said.

The popularity of Fentanyl and Oxycodone, along with users and
dealers mixing them with illegal drugs, might have contributed to the
record number, Bloss said.

Andrew Shaffer, a York City Police detective, said dealers began
adding Fentanyl to their heroin batches because it's cheaper than
heroin and provides an extra kick to the high. But seeking that high
can be deadly, he said.

"Just a small amount of it makes the high intense - you run the risk
of OD'ing or dying," he said.

Shaffer added that, in early 2006, police arrested a suspected dealer
in York who had about 300 small bags of what they thought was heroin.
Months later, tests indicated the cache did not contain heroin, but
Fentanyl, mixed with a non-narcotic white powder, he said.

Shaffer said that he'd seen Fentanyl in York County before, but,
during the summer of 2006, there was an unexplained influx.

Other death statistics

There were 66 deaths because of accidents in or around houses,
including falls. The majority of the victims, 55, were at least 60
years old, Bloss said.

"As we have an aging population, that'll continue to be a problem,"
Bloss said. "They fall at home, or at a hospital or in a nursing
home. Usually, they don't recover."

He said he gives talks at area high schools periodically, suggesting
to students how they make their grandparents' homes safer to prevent
falls, such as making sure rugs are securely fastened to floors.

The youngest person to die in house accidents was 29. Deaths in
motor-vehicle crashes rose from 52 in 2005 to 58 in 2006, Bloss said.
In those deaths, 43 were in vehicles that had seatbelts, but 26 of
them - 61 percent - did not use them.

NOT IN THE NUMBERS

What the numbers don't tell: York County Coroner Barry Bloss said
that, because of a state Department of Health regulation change in
early 2005, he no longer has to co-sign on stillborn deaths. The
change accounts for why, in 2006, there are none the coroner's
report. "It's not that they're not happening," Bloss said. "We don't
have to co-sign with the doctor."