'POISONED HEROIN' TOLL RISES TO EIGHT

POLICE have begun an investigation into the cause of a mysterious
illness which has killed eight heroin addicts in Glasgow, seven of
them women, and "poisoned" 11 others.

John Orr, the Strathclyde Chief Constable, said yesterday that a
special unit, headed by a senior officer, had been set up to
investigate the deaths, described as the most serious illness among
drug users in the city in a decade. Health officials hope to be able
to identify within days the cause of the illness.

One possibility is that the heroin was deliberately contaminated. Mr
Orr said: "It is a difficult matter because we have to speak to
everyone involved to find out the history of the person involved in a
drug death like this. We also have to find suppliers to establish
whether it all came from one source.

"At the moment we don't know how this happened. We are confident we
will find out and have more information to release in the next few
days." He promised the investigation of each death would be
"vigorous". Fourteen of the 19 addicts affected by the illness over
the past two weeks are women in their 20s and 30s.

The early cases were identified in the Govanhill area in the south of
Glasgow. However other cases have now come to light north of the River
Clyde. Health officials, who have warned there could be further
casualties, said those affected had a serious abscess as a result of
injecting into muscle or accidentally injecting outside a vein.

The most likely explanation is contamination of either the drugs
injected or the citric acid used to dissolve the heroin before it is
injected, the officials added. However tests on one batch of citric
acid have proved negative and it is thought the problem is more likely
to be the heroin itself.

There is no evidence that the illness is spread from person to person
and the wider community is not at risk.