BLACKFORD UPSET OVER INCREASE IN DRUG OVERDOSES

HARTFORD CITY - A growing number of overdoses of prescription drugs
including the powerful synthetic painkiller fentanyl has caught the
attention of Blackford County officials.

They met this week to discuss some alarming statistics, including at
least nine deaths attributed to "mixed-drug intoxication" in the
county since 2003. Local ambulance runs for the first five months of
2006 include 30 known drug overdoses and 146 for patients having
"altered levels" of consciousness.

Detective Jack Beckley, in a statement issued by the Hartford City
Police Department on Wednesday, noted the irony that prescription
drugs are distributed by doctors "here to heal us and improve our
quality of life."

"It is so unfortunate that there are certain people in society that
take advantage of this by intentionally deceiving medical personnel
just to get more pills or patches that they can turn around and sell,
which in turn creates more addicts and dealers. It is a vicious
cycle," Beckley said.

The nine fatal overdoses claimed the lives of six men and three women
whose average age was 41, County Coroner Ted Waters said. The drugs
found in their bodies included opiates and synthetic, opiate-based
prescription medications such as fentanyl, hydrocodone, oxycodone,
methadone, and alprazolam, a generic form of the anti-anxiety drug Xanax.

In nearby Tipton County, toxicology tests showed a 21-year-old jail
inmate, Joshua Lee Maine, died last November of "mixed-drug
intoxication" involving fentanyl and alprazolam. At least seven
deaths in Indiana since 2005 have been blamed on abuse of fentanyl
skin patches, and more than 100 deaths have been reported this year
from Chicago to Philadelphia among drug addicts who overdosed on
heroin mixed with fentanyl.

Hartford City Police Chief Matt Felver and other officials urged the
public to become aware of the dangers of prescription drug abuse and
report any suspicious activity involving the sale or trade of medications.

They encouraged local residents not to leave prescription medications
unattended. They also warned that placing a prescription medication,
a controlled substance, in a different container not intended for it
could violate state law.