DRUG-MIXING DEATHS CONTINUE IN PARISH

Coroner 'Frustrated' At Ongoing Problem

"Frustrated" is the word Coroner Bryan Bertucci uses to describe his
feelings about the continuing high number of drug overdose deaths in St.
Bernard Parish, most of which are from mixing prescription pills. Little
has changed despite two years of publicity about the more than 100 overdose
deaths the parish has had since 2001 and efforts by the Sheriff's Office to
crack down on illegal pill distribution.

Records for 2004 show there were 36 such overdose deaths, down one from the
37 in 2003. Of the latest number, 25 were men and 11 were women. There were
an estimated 40 deaths in 2002. There's no estimate on the number of people
who have overdosed in recent years but survived after being brought to
hospitals, Bertucci said.

And, in the past week alone, there have been at least five more overdose
cases in St. Bernard, in which at least two people died, sheriff's
officials said. For a parish of fewer than 70,000, the figures have been
alarming to law enforcement officials and the coroner, not to mention
relatives of victims. "You're running about the same" as in recent years,
Bertucci said. "It's not decreasing."

"I feel more frustrated than anything else by what is going on." People
using prescriptions pills "can't say they don't know" the dangers of mixing
prescription drugs after all the publicity and word of mouth about the
number of deaths "and yet they continue to do it," Bertucci said. "It's
sad." A few overdoses are from illegal drugs such as heroin or cocaine, but
the majority of the cases result from mixing prescription drugs including
methadone, Xanbar, Vicodin, the muscle-relaxer Soma and, sometimes,
alcohol, the coroner said.

Bertucci said some deaths are suicides, but most appear to be from
overdoses caused by "recreational use of prescription pills."

Methadone continues to be the biggest underlying cause of the problem, he
said. Sheriff Jack Stephens said in 2003 that the methadone problem was
"out of control" in the parish.

Stephens, whose department has made numerous arrests for "doctor-shopping,"
in which people go to different doctors and try to get the same
prescriptions, said this week he considers prescription drug deaths an
epidemic and the battle to prevent further deaths as a form of war. He said
his department is committed to trying to reduce doctor-shopping because he
believes that has been a source of many pills on the street. Stephens and
Bertucci this week praised the St. Bernard Parish Council for considering
zoning law changes that would make it more difficult for new
pain-management clinics to locate in the parish because, they said, such
clinics can prescribe or dispense prescription pain pills that can be
abused. The zoning changes will be considered at a council meeting next
week. Funeral home officials in Chalmette said two years ago they were
shocked by the high numbers of funerals for young people because of drug
overdoses. But the latest statistics, Bertucci said, continue a surprising
trend he saw last year: many of those dying of overdoses in the past year
were older people, in the 40- to 50-year-old range. The youngest victim was
15, while three victims were 57, he said.

Bertucci also said many of those who died were unemployed or on disability
and, based on discussions with family members, he said some suffered from
lack of self-esteem, lack of goals, no self-discipline or no concept of
delayed gratification.

Some pill users develop a tolerance and take more and more to reach the
same effect they had in the past, Bertucci said. "There is a fine line
between being high and dying," he said.

A statewide computerized system for pharmacies to check on a patient's
recent prescription history would be helpful, he said, but that hasn't been
mandated. Col. Forrest Bethay, a top-ranking officer in the Sheriff's
Office who oversees narcotics, special investigations and detectives, said,
"We'd like to get the message out that the mixing of these drugs is what's
causing people to overdose. The drugs aren't made to be mixed." It seems to
be a hard message to get into people's minds because "they don't think
(dying) is going to happen to them," Bethay said.