COCAINE-HEROIN MIX CAUSES MORE EL PASO DRUG DEATHS

A potent mix of heroin and cocaine known as a "speedball" is becoming
the major source of drug overdose deaths in El Paso, the county
medical examiner said.

For years, the deadly embrace of heroin has been a leading cause of
drug overdose deaths in El Paso, but in recent years the combination
of the two drugs has surged as a major factor, officials said.

"We are seeing more people dying from speedballs," Dr. Corinne Stern,
county medical examiner, said.

As of the end of May, there had been four heroin deaths, nine drug
mixture deaths and two cocaine overdose deaths, Stern said. The drug
mixture category also includes cocaine and alcohol and other
combinations, but the majority are speedball deaths.

Last year, there were 19 heroin deaths, 20 mixture deaths and 10
cocaine deaths, the medical examiner said.

"We are seeing the shift go from plain heroin to speedballs," Stern
said. "You have two potentially lethal drugs mixed together," she
said, explaining that cocaine can affect the heart and heroin can
affect the heart and lungs. Death can be sudden.

There has been an estimated 10 percent increase in the trafficking of
cocaine and heroin in El Paso this year compared with last year,
sheriff's spokesman Rick Glancey said. Marijuana by far remains the
most frequent drug contraband.

In 1998, a wave of overdoses in Sunland Park led police to suspect
that it was a heroin and cocaine mix, according to El Paso Times
archives. Six overdoses and one death hit Sunland Park in two days.

Heroin has been a longtime concern in the El Paso area. A heroin
subculture, known as tecatologia, emerged in the 1950s. A tecato is
slang for heroin user.

There are two ways to die from heroin, Stern explained. Injecting it
too quickly or ingesting a drug that is so pure that a drug user's
body has not built a tolerance for it.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has reported that heroin purchased
in El Paso was on average 50 percent pure, according to a June 2002
city profile by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

There have been no heroin overdose "clusters" this year, Stern said.
Last year in the week following Mardi Gras, there was a cluster of six
heroin deaths in a week. The heroin was reportedly 70 percent pure.

The possible heroin overdose deaths of two La Tuna inmates is under
investigation by the FBI and the federal prison's Special
Investigations section. Inmate Daniel Mendoza, 23, died July 27, and
cellmate Gerardo Quintero-Gomez, 41, died of cardiopulmonary arrest
Saturday at Las Palmas hospital, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

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DRUG DEATHS OVERDOSE DEATHS IN 2003 AS OF END OF MAY:

Heroin: 4.

Mixed: 9.

Cocaine: 2.

2002

Heroin: 19.

Mixed: 20.

Cocaine: 10.

2001

Heroin: 31.

Mixed: 12.

Cocaine: 4.

2000

Heroin: 30.

Mixed: 11.

Cocaine: 8. Notes: Heroin could include methadone. Mixed includes
"speedball," a heroin and cocaine combination. Other combinations could
include cocaine and alcohol.

Source - El Paso County Medical Examiner's Office.