HEROIN OVERDOSES, DEATHS AND DRUGGED DRIVING ALL ON THE RISE IN DANE COUNTY

The figures tell a story that's only getting worse: As of Monday, 16
people have died from a heroin overdose this year, double the number
in 2009. Overdoses caused by the drug also have increased -- from 61
in 2009 to 86 this year.

But what's even more alarming, officials say, is the increase in
"drugged driving" cases in which heroin users shoot up immediately
after getting the drug and then drive. That leads to the same kind of
impaired driving as drinking alcohol.

"In some cases they still have the needle in their arm" when an
officer pulls drivers over, said Sgt. Gordy Disch with the Dane
County Narcotics and Gang Task Force.

Police didn't have data on the number of operating while intoxicated
arrests that are the result of heroin. But "it's definitely
increasing" as the drug continues to be cheap and available, Disch said.

Case in point: On Dec. 21, a 21-year-old DeForest man crashed his car
on Alvarez Avenue near Milwaukee Street after injecting heroin. The
man, whose name has not been released, was taken to the hospital and
later to the Dane County Jail.

His was one of three heroin overdoses in Dane County that day --
there also was one in Madison and one in Waunakee.

Echo of Crack Epidemic

Disch said he expects the heroin-related deaths and overdoses to
continue going up.

"I'm afraid we're on pace for the next couple of years until people
finally wake up, or until the main sources of heroin outside of the
United States dry up," he said.

Another indication of the area's growing heroin problem is the number
of times this year emergency responders administered the drug Narcan,
often given to reverse the effects of heroin.

As of mid-December, emergency responders gave Narcan to 78 patients
between the ages of 20 to 29 -- the most common age group to receive
the drug -- up from 45 in 2009.

Madison Police Chief Noble Wray said he continues to be alarmed about
the city's growing heroin problem, and compares it to problems the
city had with crack cocaine in the late 1980s.

Now as then, the department is seeing the number of robberies and
burglaries rise as heroin addicts steal for money to support their habit.

Many heroin users trace their addiction to prescription pain killers,
specifically oxycodone, OxyContin and Percocet.

Drop Boxes, Hotel Crackdowns

In an effort to get those drugs off the streets and out of medicine
cabinets, the Madison Police Department installed a medicine drop box
in the lobby of the East District station, 809 S. Thompson Drive, in
November. Now residents can pitch unwanted drugs from 8 a.m. to 4
p.m. weekdays as part of a four-month pilot program. Details on the
amount collected so far was not available Tuesday.

"It has been tremendously successful," Wray said. "The response has
been unbelievable."

The Middleton Police Department has had a similar medicine drop box
at its location, 7341 Donna Drive, Middleton, since mid-October.

As of last week, the department had filled 16 5-gallon bags with
drugs from the drop box, said Middleton Police Capt. Chuck Foulke.

City officials also hope to fight the heroin problem by cracking down
on hotels that cater to transients and are known as popular sites for
drug sales.

In September, the Highlander Motor Inn, 4353 W. Beltline, was boarded
up after the city sought the closure of the "high-drug, high-crime
property" under the state's public nuisance statute.

"That has been one of the more successful strategies, but by no means
do we think that we have this thing locked," Wray said.