DEATHS, BRAIN DAMAGE TIED TO BAD DRUGS

Two people have died and two more will be mentally damaged for life after
smoking a bad batch of heroin or cocaine.

The four, all Vancouver males, were struck in the past few months by an
often-fatal condition called heroin-induced toxic leukoencephalopathy. The
condition, easily confirmed by a CT scan, is untreatable and causes death
or permanent brain damage.

"The public should know about this," Dr. John Blatherwick, chief medical
health officer of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, said yesterday.

The initial symptoms are often difficulty in speaking or walking. Family
members or friends who notice such behaviour should advise any user to seek
immediate medical attention, said Blatherwick.

The four recent cases are the first of the condition recorded in B.C., he said.

He appealed to the unknown dealer of the drugs: "You, out there, if you're
cutting it [adding non-drug filler to the heroin/cocaine] with something
different than you usually do, you should know you are costing yourself
customers."

The victims, between the ages of 26 and 38, were not street addicts, but
what Blatherwick called "community users." They included three ethnic
Chinese, which led him to speculate that one dealer was perhaps providing
this tainted supply.

On the other hand, the four cases could be tied to another deadly
condition, he said.

"Wanting to avoid AIDS [from a infected needle] is probably a reason for
heroin- and cocaine-smoking increase," he said. "We have seen a drop in
Vancouver of [intravenous drug-related] AIDS and overdose deaths."