DEATHS LINKED TO DRUGS, ALCOHOL

Substance abuse contributed to the deaths last week of Carolina
Hurricanes hockey player Steve Chiasson and former Dallas Cowboys star
Mark Tuinei.

Chiasson's blood-alcohol level was 0.27 percent, more than three times
the legal limit, when he was killed in a pickup truck accident on May
3. The limit in North Carolina is 0.08.

Chiasson, 32, overturned his truck and was ejected from the vehicle
after leaving a party at the home of teammate Gary Roberts, hours
after the Hurricanes had been eliminated from the playoffs. He was not
wearing a seatbelt.

Chiasson's teammate Kevin Dineen said Chiasson refused to wait for a
taxi and decided to drive to his nearby home.

In Texas, a police affidavit revealed Tuinei, 39, injected heroin the
night before he died. In the court document, Cowboys running back
Nicky Sualua told police Tuinei also used the stimulant Ecstasy.

Sualua said he and Tuinei went to a Dallas apartment to get the heroin
and "Mark went into the bedroom, and he said, 'Here it is.' "

"When Mark came back to the living room, he looked as if he was
passing out. Nicky advised (that) Mark started having problems and
stopped breathing," the affidavit said.

Sualua said Tuinei was alive when he dragged the 6-foot-5, 320-pound
ex-offensive lineman from the apartment to his car. Sualua then drove
to Tuinei's house in suburban Dallas.

Sualua slept in the car with Tuinei until about 5:30 a.m. Thursday, he
told police. "When Nicky woke up, Mark was not breathing," the document
said.

In addition to heroin, Sualua said Tuinei had used Ecstasy, a hybrid of the
hallucinogen mescaline and the stimulant amphetamine, at Tuinei's house
earlier
Wednesday evening.