AS MORE PEOPLE SHOOT UP, SO DO HEROIN DEATHS

Heroin deaths jumped 36 percent last year in Orange and Osceola
counties, showing abuse continues to spread unchecked across Central
Florida.

The toll rose so high that greater Orlando is certain to repeat this
year as the most likely place in Florida for someone to die from
heroin. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that more people called
911 to get help last year than ever before, the number could have been
far greater.

"Our problem is epidemic; it's beyond anything I have had to contend
with," said U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, chairman of the house
subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources, who
has tracked heroin's spread across the country. "When you take our
population into account, it's horrendous and getting worse."

The surge in deaths particularly concerns Mica because "it's even
worse than the figures project. . . There're more overdoses being
saved through rapid medical care."

The deaths soared despite law enforcement's most successful year
yet.

Major investigations by local, state and federal agencies seized more
than 10 pounds of heroin and shut down rings importing the drug
directly from Colombia. Arrests showed, however, that many smugglers
continue to use Puerto Rico as a transit point.

For a time, a bunch of street arrests turned a stretch of Semoran
Boulevard known as "Heroin Alley" into a drug-free zone. But demand
kept creating new hot spots.

"Clearly, it's frustrating," said Lt. Mike Miller of the Orange County
sheriff's drug unit. "We reduce the problem, but we can't thoroughly
remove it. There's always something left we can't mop up."

The problem is simply the growing numbers of addicts and the changing
face of heroin abuse: More and more users defy simple
characterization.

Car salesmen and beauticians joined day laborers and college students
willing to risk arrest to feed their habits. A grandmother from
Kissimmee, a nurse and a waitress all ended up in handcuffs in one
roundup last fall.

"They will do anything to get it," said Julio Cuevas, a counselor at a
detoxification program run by the Center for Drug Free Living in
Orlando. "As long as you don't have any beds available to give them
help, a young guy will infect or hook seven to 10 other young people
into using heroin."

Heroin entraps older victims as well.

Eight of the region's 65 victims were women, ranging in age from 20 to
46. More than half of the men ranged in age from 30 to 56 years old.
Only 10 of the victims were younger than 25.

Eighteen of the dead were Hispanic men. The rest were non-Hispanic
Caucasians.

Only one teenager -- Joshua Ames, 17, of Winter Park -- died. During
this deadly five-year epidemic, the number of teenage deaths has only
dropped this low one other time, in 1997.

Teenage heroin deaths brought Orlando national attention in 1996. Drug
counselors say the drop likely is temporary, a sign that the latest
generation is learning not to mix heroin with alcohol and other drugs.

Drug agents agree with counselors that calls to 911 kept the death
toll from going even higher. Paramedics injected victims with Narcan,
a heroin antidote, saving at least 30 lives during the year.
Historically, addicts have died -- even surrounded by friends --
because no one was willing to call authorities.

"It just depends on which side of the fence you fall on," Seminole
County sheriff's Sgt. Pete Kelting said. Often, surviving an overdose
depends on the willingness of an addict's friends to call for help.

Kelting, who runs a squad of agents investigating fatal overdoses for
the Central Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area heroin task
force, said the drug's hold is so strong that victims return to it
after surviving an overdose.

"We've had three or four who have overdosed multiple times and been
saved by Narcan," he said.

Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties accounted for 52 confirmed
overdose deaths in 1999, just one less than much more populated
Miami-Dade County. Those Central Florida counties also reported four
additional cases involving less-than-fatal amounts of heroin.

Orange and Osceola counties had 49 overdose deaths in 1999, up from 36
the previous year.

The region's total of 65 heroin-related deaths included nine cases
from Brevard and Lake counties. That was up 22.6 percent from 1988,
when 53 Central Floridians died from heroin.

A tally of heroin deaths statewide was not available
Monday.

The Medical Examiner's Office in Miami reported that 22 people,
including two suicides, died from heroin overdoses last year.
Thirty-one more victims, including two suicides, died from taking a
mixture of heroin and cocaine, known as a speedball. The number of
people who died from mixing other drugs and alcohol with
less-than-deadly amounts of heroin is still being compiled, a
spokeswoman said.

In 1998, there were 206 heroin deaths in Florida -- up 51 percent from
1997.

Except for Orange and Osceola counties, heroin deaths show up across
Central Florida like the pea in a sleight-of-hand shell game.
Overdoses soar one year in a one area, then plummet the next year.

In 1999, the pea appeared in Brevard County, where eight people died
from heroin overdoses between the coastal towns of Melbourne and
Titusville. In 1998, there was one heroin death.