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A Lethal Batch Of The Narcotic In Chicago Has Raised Suspicions About
Four Fatalities Locally

ROCKFORD -- Four fatal drug overdoses in two months have law
enforcement officials worried that a heroin epidemic is hitting the region.

Winnebago County Coroner Sue Fiduccia said she can't be certain of
the cause of the local overdoses until toxicology results are
complete, but evidence indicates that heroin was the drug of choice.

Heroin grabbed headlines in the Chicago area after a batch of
adulterated heroin was linked to as many as 12 fatal overdoses. That
batch was either cut with or replaced with fentanyl, a chemical used
primarily as an anaesthesic and analgesic, according to the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration.

Fiduccia said the law enforcement agencies are comparing drug samples
they've found here with what was found in Chicago.

"Is heroin mixed with bad stuff? Yes. All the time. They cut it with
rat poison, fentanyl and other substances," Fiduccia said. "Heroin is
bad stuff by itself."

Even if no link is found, however, there is evidence that the Rock
River Valley is turning on to a potentially deadly new high.

"Eight or 10 years ago, our Metro Narcotics guys told us that heroin
was showing up a lot out west and that it would be here, too,"
Winnebago County Chief Deputy Roger Costello said.

"Unfortunately, they were right."

Rockford Interim Police Chief Dominic Iasparro said the scope of
Rockford's addiction was put into perspective last year when police
and federal agents broke open an alleged $5,000-a-day heroin and
cocaine ring operated by an offshoot of the Chicago-based Stones street gang.

"These were massive amounts," Iasparro said. He added that police are
seeing and seizing more heroin than they have in years, and they're
picking up users who travel from out of town to buy the drug here.

"Traditionally, there's this image of a heroin user hunched over in a
dark alley, shooting up," Iasparro said. "But that's not the case.
They're coming from all segments of society."

But it's not only police who have noticed the rise in heroin abuse.

"We saw a few cases more than usual," said Michelle Rice, clinical
supervisor at Treatment Alternatives for Safer Communities, a
state-funded service that places drug addicts in treatment programs.
"Within the last year it has really grown."

According to the agency's numbers, referrals for heroin treatment
have grown steadily at least since 2004 with nearly twice the number
of referrals in this fiscal year than in 2004. She said the drug
users defy any racial or socioeconomic patterns.

"A $20 amount can get you a good high, so it's not that expensive,"
Rice said. "It doesn't have a high end or a low end."