SUBURBS FACE SURGE OF HEROIN OVERDOSES

Raynham paramedic Brian Lacivita spotted the young woman on the floor, her
breathing shallow and skin pale, the moment he walked into the Route 44
motel room in Raynham.

Then he saw the hypodermic needle and syringe.

Within minutes, he pumped 2 milligrams of Narcan, a drug used to counteract
heroin overdoses, through an IV tube into her nearly lifeless body. And
then he waited and hoped.

"She just woke up and she didn't know where she was," Lacivita said.

The woman, in her mid-20s, was one of a growing number of heroin users in
the area in the past three months who were revived after overdosing.

And law enforcement officials fear the number of overdose cases will rise,
and some users may not survive life-saving efforts, as what appears to be a
strong batch of heroin circulates on the region's streets.

In the past two weeks, three people survived heroin overdoses in Raynham
and two people overdosed in Bridgewater, including a 19-year-old man who at
one point was on life support and who remains hospitalized in Boston.

"Three overdoses in two weeks tells me that there is something wrong. The
heroin is either bad or very strong," said Raynham Detective David LaPlante.

The number of overdoses may be much higher than the cases law enforcement
and paramedics are seeing.

"You are dealing with a group of people that don't want to get involved
with police. You have people who are driven directly to the hospital that
we never know about," Raynham Deputy Police Chief Louis J. Pacheco said.

LaPlante said it appears the most recent overdoses are linked to heroin
sold in Taunton to smaller dealers throughout the area.

""Authorities are now trying to learn where the heroin is coming from, how
strong it is and if there is any chance it may be tainted.

But getting to the main source is tough and time-consuming, LaPlante said.

"Somebody goes to New York, buys a big batch and then it goes down the
line," he said.

It can also be just as time-consuming to pinpoint the cause of an overdose,
several said.

Friends, family or acquaintances may get rid of any evidence of drugs,
including paraphernalia such as needles used to inject heroin, before
medical personnel or police arrive, said Bridgewater Sgt. Christopher Delmonte.

"If they did pass on, they don't want people to think bad of the person, to
think of the person with a needle hanging out of their arm," he said.

In other cases, people who may have been with the user leave the scene
before help arrives, he said.

"People don't want to be around when that happens," Delmonte said.

Fatal opioid overdoses have risen throughout the region in recent years.

For example, 27 people in Plymouth County died of opioid-related overdoses
in 2002, compared with 13 in 1998. In Bristol County, 60 people fatally
overdosed in 2002, compared with five in 1998. In Norfolk County, 34 people
died in 2002, compared with 19 in 1998, according to the state Department
of Public Health.

Heroin use is a rising concern throughout the region, with the drug now
packing a bigger punch and available in doses as cheap in some places as a
pack of cigarettes, drawing new and younger users.

"The biggest concern is the purity is such now that it is being snorted --
and it has a 'cleaner' image when it is snorted," Randolph Police Chief
Paul Porter said. "People think, 'I can try it because I'm not a
needle-injecting drug addict.' People think it is OK to do it."

In Abington, authorities are trying to battle both heroin and OxyContin use
by older teens and young adults.

In Abington, one woman died of what appeared to be a heroin overdose in the
past two months and others have been treated for overdoses.

"Once they are addicted to the OxyContins, they can't afford it. They go to
the cheaper heroin," Abington Police Chief David Majenski said.

"With the drugs comes the overdoses. Most of the time, the fire department
deals with the overdoses. It puts a strain on everyone. It is an indicator
of a bigger problem."

Paramedics who are firefighters are often on the front line to save addicts
near death.

"Time is of the essence," Raynham Fire Chief George Andrews said. "The
medics can try to put the drugs in there to start to turn (the overdose)
around."

Bridgewater Fire Chief Roderick Walsh agreed, noting the rise in the drug's
popularity is translating into more calls for ambulances.

"The incidents of heroin overdose, from what we can see, has increased in
our community," Walsh said.

Stopping the use of heroin is difficult, even for addicts who have overdosed.

Lacivita said addicts who are "brought back" sometimes vomit, can be
combative and often deny they were using heroin.

In some cases, they are angry, not grateful, to be brought back to life.

"Some of them are upset that you wrecked their high," he said.