STOLEN NARCOTIC OFTEN DEADLY, POLICE SAY

VANCOUVER -- A lethal cocktail of stolen methadone may be "liquid
gold" for drug pushers, but the concentrated narcotic could be a
killer to addicts on the streets, Vancouver police warned yesterday.

Breaking into a pharmacy's supply of locked and refrigerated
methadone, thieves swiped two four-litre milk jugs filled with a
blend of methadone and grape-flavoured Tang, nine bottles of the
liquid concentrate and three 300-gram bottles of powder concentrate.

The crime was reminiscent of a pharmacy break-in last August when, in
only two weeks, more than a dozen addicts died, overdosing from what
was believed to be stolen methadone.

"Our concern is this ends up out on the street and drug addicts end
up using this in an incorrect concentration," Constable Howard Chow
said yesterday during a newsconference. "We don't want to see a
repeat of what took place last year."

Drug detox centres may use methadone -- a synthetic narcotic similar
to morphine -- to wean addicts off heroin, since it reduces
withdrawal symptoms.

A 300-gram bottle of the powdered concentrate can be diluted into as
many as 75 of the four-litre milk jugs, or the equivalent of 300,000
millilitres of methadone.

The average user is supposed to ingest about 250 millilitres a day,
Constable Chow said.

Methadone is white in powder form and clear as liquid concentrate.

"They may mix it with anything; you'll see that over here," Constable
Chow said. "It's mixed with Tang, so it's kind of a purplish colour.
You can mix it with any sort of juice."

Although police would not identify which pharmacy was targeted so as
to avoid copycat crimes, they confirmed it was not the same store
robbed last August. Constable Chow also said there's no indication
the culprits were the same as in last year's incident.

None of those suspects was found and the drugs were never recovered.

"You've got some pretty persistent criminals, undoubtedly, that are
trying to get their hands on what, to them, is liquid gold," he said.
"We're asking anyone who comes across these bottles to immediately
call 911. Keep an eye on them, get a hold of us. We need to get these
off the streets."

Police have contacted nearby hospitals to be on alert for overdoses
that could be related to the theft.