AKKELIDOU: TEN HEROIN DEATHS THIS YEAR ALREADY

There have been 10 heroin-related deaths this year already, according
to Health Minister Dina Akkelidou, with four occurring this week
alone, raising fears among the authorities that there is a batch of
doctored heroin on the market.

Two men died in Nicosia at the weekend. The men were heroin users and
friends, leading to suspicions they were probably killed by the same,
possibly doctored, heroin.

Police yesterday stated they could not be sure if this was the case
even though they were both users, as they would have to wait for the
test results.

Politis yesterday claimed the two men had been together and used
heroin purchased from the same dealer. Police said this would be
confirmed once the toxicological tests had been conducted. These tests
will also show whether or not the heroin was in fact doctored.

The authorities are reluctant to admit that the recent deaths were a
result of heroin use, and insist they must wait until the test
results. However, they do fear that there is doctored heroin
circulating on the market which could bring further deaths among
users, who are none the wiser as to whether the drugs they are
purchasing are pure. Health Minister Dina Akkelidou said yesterday it
was expected that doctored heroin was now available on the market, as
it was cheaper to produce allowing dealers to make a larger profit.

Akkelidou said there had been "10 suspected heroin deaths already this
year". She went on to express her disappointment in the government and
stated what she believed were the reasons for the increase in drug
use.

"I regret to say that the deaths are a result of the state's apathy
towards the drugs problem that has been ignored for too long. The
consequences are now catching up. The facts say that the 10 people who
died were addicts who have been using heroin for a long period of
time, that is as long as 15 months," said Akkelidou.

She added that the Health Ministry was doing all in its power to help
lessen the drugs situation that is spiraling out of control. "We have
implemented rehabilitation clinics available for users who need help
and we have started precautionary centres where people can be educated
on the dangers of taking hard drugs," she said.

Chief of Police Tassos Panayiotou said the case of the weekend deaths
was still unclear, but added: "What we can safely say is that if there
is doctored heroin on the market dealers are making a profitable business."

He said heroin was very often mixed with other substances to make it
go further and that dealers therefore increased their profit.

"If in these two cases the heroin was impure or not we can only
determine after the tests," he said, but did admit he was fearful
there was a high chance that the drugs were being doctored, putting
lives at risk.

Panayiotou said he felt the police were a target of unfair
allegations, that they were not focused on fighting the battle against
drugs and that they were simply arresting users with small amounts of
drugs.

"We are doing our job but are not being acknowledged for our struggle
to catch the big fish, the dealers," said Panayiotou.

Police Commandant Sotiris Tryfonos said yesterday the police were
doing all they could to fight the drugs problem, which had increased
tremendously in the past two years.