OVERDOSE DEATHS PROMPT CALL FOR REVIEW OF DRUG LAWS

Threat Of Arrest If Others At Crime Scene Can Prevent Emergency Aid, Critics Say

It isn't hard to stop a heroin overdose. An injection of an opiate antidote
can revive a user in several minutes.

But few get a shot at the lifesaving drug -- often because friends don't
respond in time, if at all, out of fear that calling for emergency help will
land them in jail, authorities say.

The blame for the often-fatal decision not to call for help is usually borne
by drug addicts -- but increasingly, some are questioning whether police
and the legal system contribute to the problem by prosecuting fellow users
or those who help an overdose victim take the drugs.

"By enforcing the law this way, they are actually creating a disincentive to
call 911," said Donald Grove, development director for the Harm Reduction
Coalition, a New York education and advocacy group that works with
recovering addicts. "People hitting each other [with heroin] is incredibly
common."

In one recent case, manslaughter charges were brought by Bedford police
against a 22-year-old accused of injecting a friend with the heroin that led
to his death.

Andrew Cole Allen of Grapevine, 22, was arraigned April 1 in the death of a
friend, David Allen, 21, of Bedford. Authorities say Andrew Allen gave his
friend the second of two black-tar heroin injections that led to his death.
Mr Allen, who did not call 911, could not be reached for comment.

Authorities say it's unclear why Mr. Allen did not call 911. But one
recovering cocaine addict familiar with heroin users said the fear of being
jailed on a possession or manslaughter charge is very real for addicts.

"Like it or not, we are selfish people," said Erin, who spoke on condition
that her last name not be revealed. "[They'll say]: 'He's already dead. I am
just not going to do anything about it,' and just walk away. That's
characteristic of drug addicts and alcoholics -- they are selfish people."

Instead of aggressively investigating every overdose, authorities can
encourage more drug users to call 911 by promising anonymity and not
pressing charges, advocates say. This Erin says, will save lives and provide
an opportunity to get other users into treatment.

Plano Police Chief Bruce Glasscock said police are "placed in a Catch-22"
because they want to save every heroin user's life but also have a duty to
investigate all crimes, including possession of a controlled substance, at
the scene of the overdose.

Over the last three years, 18 teens with ties to Plano have died of heroin
overdoses. Northeast Tarrant County has seen more than 20 overdose deaths in
the last two years, many of which could have been prevented had proper
medical attention been available, some say.

"We have tried to tell them you need to call 911, because the sooner we can
get medical attention to an individual, their likelihood of surviving is
significantly increased," he said. "At the same time, we are not going to
provide any guarantees that we are not going to investigate.

"It puts the law enforcement agency in a tough position, because we have a
commitment to the community to investigate the matter."

Plano's investigation of overdose deaths resulted in the February
convictions of 10 drug dealsers in federal court in Beaumont, Chief
Glasscock said.

George Malina of North Dallas -- whose son Milan, died of an overdose in
June 1997 -- said that by treating fellow users as criminals, the law
reduces the chance that others will use 911 in the future.

"You have got somebody who is apparently a user. They are not in a good
frame of mind; they are impaired," Mr. Malina said. "How can you charge them
with something? They need psychiatric care."

Alternatives Authorities elsewhere are trying different approached. In
Australia, a high mortality rate -- more than 250 people died from heroin
overdoses in Victoria state last year -- has prompted police
to take a hands-off approach to overdoses. Ambulance attendants are not
required to inform police when they respond to overdoses.

Richardson police Lt. Dennis Stewart said addicts who are with the
overdosing user often don't even realize something is amiss until it's too
late, because they too are groggy and disoriented.

A study published recently in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that
calling 911 was heroin user's first response to an overdose only 14 percent
of the time. Users tried home remedies, and 50 percent eventually called
paramedics.

Dr. Karl Sporer, the study's author and an attending physician at San
Francisco General Hospital's emergency room, said paramedics can almost
always revive overdose victims if they are dispatched early enough.

Milan Malina's friends waited six hours after he died to take him to the
hospital. But the elder Mr. Malina doesn't feel resentment toward them. He
blames the inaction on their addiction and a legal system that he says is
obsessed with imprisoning offenders on minor drug charges.

Differing opinions Some close to the issue disagree.

Belita Nelson, founder of the drug-addiction support group Starfish
Foundation, said prosecutions such as Bedford's manslaughter charges aren't
going to change 911-calling patterns.

"I really think they are two different issues," she said. "Most of the
police officers that I know would much rather save somebody's life than
investigate a heroin overdose."

Bedford Deputy Police Chief Mike Mason said his department's main goals are
to take drugs off the streets and save people's lives.

"We need to send a message that if you are going to do this and participate
in this type of activity, you will be held accountable," he said. "Our
ultimate goal is to take the drug off the street and make sure people are
not using it."

Defense attorneys and prosecutors say cases like the manslaughter charge
against Mr. Allen are rare because they are hard to prove. But Texas law
allows them, and the victim's consent to have the drug administered can't be
uses as a defense, said Terry Barlow, chief prosecutor for the Tarrant
County Narcotics and Intelligence
Coordination Unit.

Mr. Barlow said Mr. Allen's case is not going to raise drug user's fear of
the police. The issue probably would not even register on their radar
screens, he said.

"I don't think a lot of junkies pay attention to what's in the paper," said
Mr. Barlow. "I don't think our prosecuting one individual for manslaughter
is going to have much of an effect on other junkies out there."

But drug users have often proved that that view is too simplistic, some say.

Dr. Larry Alexander, an emergency room physician who's widely known for his
anti-drug work with area youths, said addicts don't always fit the junkie
image and often pay close attention to the world around them. Teens who
bring their overdosed friends to the hospital often display a sophistication
and understanding not expected of them, he added.

Some drug users tell Dr. Alexander, who works at Baylor Medical Centers in
Dallas, Plano and Irving, that he won't see them in the emergency room
because they've become more cautious in their drug use.

"The people who are using drugs," he said, "are not always the mindless
idiots that the people think they are."