IS HEROIN BECOMING THE NEW TREND?

Heroin is becoming a dangerous trend in Walworth County, officials
say.

"I would say it's a growing problem," said Sgt. Jeff Patek of the
Walworth County Drug Unit. "In the last year, it is starting to become
more prevalent."

Heroin used to be the drug of choice for "experienced" addicts, Patek
said. Now, it's reaching a younger audience.

"It's a trend right now," Patek said. "Can I attribute that to
anything? No. I have no idea why. But other agencies throughout the
state are seeing the same thing."

Walworth County prosecutors have noticed the difference.

Wisconsin in 1989 adopted its so-called Len Bias Law, named after the
University of Maryland basketball player who died in 1986 from a
cocaine overdose. The statute allows prosecutors to charge people with
homicide if they provide the drugs that cause someone's death.

But District Attorney Phil Koss said for 17 years his office didn't
have a case to prosecute under the statute.

But since July, Walworth County prosecutors have used it three times.
Five people face homicide charges in the drug deaths of three others.

Two of the charges relate to heroin deliveries and the other involves
methadone, a drug sometimes used to treat heroin addiction.

Kevin St. John, spokesperson for the Wisconsin Department of Justice,
said in five years heroin users have gone from mostly people in their
mid-30s to early 50s down to those ages 18 to 28.

"The fear is that heroin in the eyes of young people is losing its
well-deserved reputation as a killer," St. John said. "People aren't
as scared of it anymore, and people aren't taking the same time to
build up to its use."

Heroin in Wisconsin predominantly was an urban drug, finding its way
to Wisconsin from South America and overseas following traditional
drug routes, St. John Said. Most heroin arrives in Milwaukee from New
York and Chicago, and lately it has been filtering into the suburbs,
St. John said.

The Department of Justice has developed a heroin initiative aimed at
curbing the problem through a cooperative effort with local, state and
federal agents.

"Instead of it being us and them, things have become more shared, and
we are working together to help solve the problem," Patek said.

Local police have tried to use the Len Bias Law when investigating
prior drug overdose deaths, Koss said, but the cases are difficult to
prove.

"You don't always die instantly like from a gunshot," Koss said. "It's
very difficult to track back where they got the controlled substances
from. Police know to look for that right away and pursue those leads.

"In these three cases, we've been fortunate."

Between 2000 and 2004, the Walworth County Coroner's Office reported
26 accidental drug overdose deaths. Of those, three were from cocaine,
two from heroin and two from methadone. Several others were a
combination of drugs that included morphine, also an opium-based drug
like heroin.

Figures from 2005 were unavailable.

In 2006, eight people died from drug overdoses, including three from
opium-based drugs.

"With any drug, you never know what's actually in it and what the
purity of it is," Patek said. "A person could be taking something
that's 60 percent pure and are used to that. All of a sudden they get
some that is 90 percent, and it's really strong. They think it's like
the 60 percent (purity) and they overdose."

St. John said doctors are able to treat overdoses better than ever,
but hospitals across the state are reporting increases in overdose
cases, pointing to an increased use of the drug.

The best solution educating people on the dangers of heroin so they
choose not to use it, St. John said.

"We can't lose sight of the old threats to public safety because they
still exist," he said. "Heroin exists in a different way now than it
has before".