INMATE'S DECLINE AND DEATH ILLUSTRATES HEROIN'S OFTEN LETHAL GRIP

Up until 20 months ago, Gina Plata Barton's life seemed happy and normal.

She made a good living as a nurse. She was married. She loved music and
could play any instrument she took up, said her father, Fred Plata.

What she couldn't do was free herself of a heroin addiction that took over
her life and may have ended it.

Barton, 30, was found dead on a Bexar County Jail annex infirmary bed
Halloween night. The Bexar County medical examiner's office is awaiting
laboratory toxicological results before declaring the cause of death.

She was buried Friday at Meadowlawn Memorial Park.

"She was a bright girl who fell off the edge and could never make it back,"
said one man, himself a recovering addict who requested anonymity. "I met
Gina at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. She wanted to get clean."

That encounter came four months ago. When they met, she had casts on both
arms. She claimed her arms were broken in a fall down a staircase.

The petite brunette was homeless by then, and he let her live with him, he
said.

"When she stayed with me, she was over two months clean. And then she
relapsed," leading him to ask her to leave, he said.

She kept in touch and for a time was staying at a halfway house, he said.

"She called me (Oct. 26). She said, 'If you've got any work, I'll do
anything. I need some money to pay for my methadone.' She was crying," he
said. "I loved Gina. I wanted to be friends with her, but she was being very
manipulative."

The next day, she reported to her probation officer only to find herself in
handcuffs. Her probation had been revoked.

Gina's rapid downward spiral is a testament to heroin's dangers. Before her
addiction, she had no criminal record.

Deputy Chief Edward Castart of the Bexar County Adult Probation Office said
her probation on an April 30 prostitution arrest was revoked because she was
arrested Oct. 15 for heroin possession.

Gina's father sees too many unanswered questions. His daughter, confined to
the jail's infirmary at the time of her death, was taking a common
tranquilizer for depression. She also was getting methadone treatment.

She'd been dead at least two hours by the time paramedics were called, Lt.
Bud Baker of the Bexar County Sheriff's Department said.

Until recently, the last generation plagued by heroin addiction came of age
during the Vietnam war. But in the past few years, addiction experts have
warned the opiate is enjoying a resurgence.

Maria Kennedy, acting director of the substance abuse program at the Center
for Health Care Services, said few young people were seeking admission into
heroin treatment programs three years ago. But few of today's youngsters
know the drug's addictive power, she said.

"The people I've talked to in screenings are absolutely flabbergasted they
got hooked as easily as they did," Kennedy said. "One girl said she did it
once because her boyfriend pressured her, and then she couldn't quit."

Statewide, heroin deaths have risen steadily since 1983, when 171 people
died of overdoses. That number rose to 221 in 1994, 288 in 1995 and 311 in
1996, according to the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse.

While heroin deaths have remained steady in the county at about 30 per year,
Kennedy said Bexar has the highest concentration of methadone treatments per
capita in the state.

Plata, 65, lives alone in a retirement building. He suffers from emphysema
and is constantly on oxygen. He struggles all day with the thought of his
daughter's death, unable to accept that no person or program could save her.

"She tried to get help. She needed medical attention," Plata said. "She'd
get off of it for about a week or two and then, . . ." he said as his voice
trailed off.

Plata said his daughter, a graduate of the St. Phillip's College nursing
program who'd dreamed of becoming a doctor, turned to heroin after her
marriage failed in March 1997.

Soon after the divorce, she just stopped going to work. He believes the
separation tore her apart.

"I think she was despondent about it," he said. "One time she asked me if I
thought Jerry might take her back. She looked for him, but she couldn't find
him."

Plata is uncertain whether his daughter had a drug problem before the
divorce. He didn't realize something was seriously wrong until afterward.

"She studied musical instruments. She played the drums, guitar, piano,
organ. She played just about anything," he said. "When she got on that
addiction, she started selling her instruments to support her habit.

"That's when I knew."

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst