DRUG OVERDOSE RECORD FEARED

Meth Deaths on the Rise, 2006 Statistics Show

Humboldt County is poised to tie a grim statistic: the record set in
2003 for drug overdose deaths.

That year, there were 50 deaths, 18 times the national average of
2.2 per 100,000 population.

With a few days left in 2006, there are 46 confirmed drug overdose
deaths in the county this year, said Humboldt County Coroner Frank
Jager on Wednesday.

"But that's not the whole story," he said. Another three or four
possible overdoses are still awaiting toxicology screening, he said.
So the total could be around 49.

Historically, prescription drugs and heroin have made up a large
amount of the county drug overdose deaths. This year,
methamphetamine is causing more deaths than in years past, Jager said.

Sixteen county residents have died of methamphetamine overdoses this
year, he said. Normally there are only three or four methamphetamine
overdose deaths a year.

"We've never had as many as we've had this year .... Meth is just
really tearing us up as a community," he said. "I don't know what
we're going to do about it."

Last year, 36 county residents died of drug overdoses.

Suicide is another cause of death in which Humboldt County leads the state.

There have been 20 suicides in the county in 2006, Jager said.