METH STILL DEADLIEST DRUG IN S.J.

Methamphetamine continues to outpace heroin as the deadliest illegal
drug in San Joaquin County.

According to an annual coroner's report, 50 deaths were blamed on
methamphetamine each year in 2004 and 2005. Last year was the fourth
in which methamphetamine deaths outnumbered heroin deaths in the
county. Heroin killed 15 people last year and 32 in 2004, according
to the report.

Gospel Center Rescue Mission drug counselor Joseph Tabangcura said
the death rates reported by the county highlight methamphetamine's
unrecognized pervasiveness.

"Meth is undercover in so many ways," Tabangcura said. "It's hiding
behind violence. It's hiding behind the gangs."

Frances Hutchins wasn't surprised to see that heroin and
methamphetamine have swapped places over the past few years as the
biggest and second-biggest killers of drug users countywide.
Hutchins, the deputy director of San Joaquin County Substance Abuse
Services, said the number of overdose deaths in the report mirrors an
increase in methamphetamine use in the county.

She said the county drug-treatment program, with both residential and
outpatient services, has seen the number of people seeking help for
methamphetamine use quadruple in the past five years.

"Obviously there's a significant increase," San Joaquin County
Sheriff's Office spokesman Les Garcia said of the number of
methamphetamine overdose deaths.

That doesn't mean heroin use is down.

Sheriff's Office Capt. Armondo Mayoya directs the San Joaquin County
Metropolitan Narcotics Task Force. He said heroin use is increasing,
though not as quickly as methamphetamine use.

"It slipped for a while but now is making a comeback," Mayoya said.

The number of heroin overdose deaths reported by the coroner's office
has fluctuated in recent years, as opposed to the steady upward trend
in methamphetamine-related deaths.

Dale Benner is executive director of the transitional home New
Directions. He said there's probably not much overlap between
methamphetamine and heroin users, because the two drugs produce very
different highs. Heroin is a narcotic that causes a sleepy euphoria,
Benner said. Methamphetamine, known by many other names including
speed, makes people agitated and keeps them awake, he said.

Benner said there's another difference. Methamphetamine appears to be
even harder to quit than heroin.

"The problem or the attraction with meth is that nothing else matches
that high," he said.

Mayoya said methamphetamine can be more dangerous for the general
public than heroin.

"From the standpoint of a heroin user, ... you get a more mellow type
of influence with that. With methamphetamine, with crystal meth,
chronic users, heavy users become violent."