CONNECTICUT: A DECADE OF FATAL OVERDOSES

Only 22 of Connecticut's 169 towns have not had at least one reported
fatal overdose from heroin or pharmaceutical narcotic painkillers
between 1997 and 2007, according to a study recently released by the
Yale School of Public Health.

The study, culled from data from the state's medical examiner's
office, found that more than 2,200 people in Connecticut fatally
overdosed on pharmaceutical narcotic painkillers, heroin or methadone
during that time.

Robert Heimer, the study's lead investigator, found that the number of
fatal heroin overdoses has decreased to 111 annually in recent years,
from an average of 131 a year from 1997 to 2000. But deaths from
prescription narcotic painkillers and methadone have more than
doubled, to 113 a year from 2005 to 2007 from 43 a year in the late
1990s. The researchers also found a shift in narcotic painkillers
abuse and addiction from the state's cities to its suburbs, with
deadly results.

"We're really seeing an increase in the rate of deaths in the suburban
areas of the state," Dr. Heimer said.

He and his team are studying what they call "injectors in the
suburbs." "They're a generation younger than the urban injectors we've
been studying," he said.

He forecasts an increase in heroin-related deaths should
prescription-drug abusers move to the far-cheaper heroin, as they have
elsewhere.

"Looking at the current trends in pharmaceutical opiate deaths," he
said, "might give you a clue what to expect if people make the
transition."