POTENT HEROIN BEHIND DEATHS

EM Men Victims Of New High-Grade Street Product

Within six minutes of the time Robert Watson and Jeffrey Davis shared a
needle of heroin, both men were dying on the floor of an East Moline home.

The simultaneous deaths of the two men alarmed and puzzled authorities who
suspected the men may have been using a tainted street drug. But
toxicology tests now show the culprit was an unusually potent batch of
heroin, which appears to be driving up the death rate nationally among
veteran drug users, according to Rock Island County coroner Sharon Anderson.

Police testimony during a Rock Island County Coroner's inquest Wednesday
showed that Watson, 62, of Brookport, Ill., and Davis, 43 of Aurora,
Colo., were old friends who ran into each other on the street in East
Moline on July 10th. They walked the couple of blocks to the house at 1355
12th Ave. where Watson was staying with family and, within an hour, both
were dead.

"We found it unusual that two individuals would die at exactly the same
time, or within five minutes of each other," East Moline police Det. Darren
Gault said.

The unusual circumstances also alarmed Coroner Sharon Anderson, who ordered
autopsies and toxicology tests that included a search for poisons.

While a forensic pathologist tested for poisons, he found only the heroin
and metabolites of the street drug, Anderson said. But the pathologist told
Anderson he was not surprised.

"He said he has seen an increase in the number of heroin deaths of late,"
she said. "Users have no idea that what's on the street right now is so
much more potent than what they are used to getting." ]\ The drug was so
strong, in fact, that the heroin did not have time to metabolize into its
usual form before the men died, she said. The drug takes six minutes to
change forms, she said, but had not done so when Watson and Davis died.

Gault testified that it appeared Davis was the first to shoot up, because
police found only one syringe, which was still in Watson's hand when family
members found him.

Both men, it appears, had been using the drug in a bedroom, but Davis had
apparently gone to the kitchen for water, Anderson said. While Davis was
found slumped against the kitchen sink, Watson's body was found in the
bedroom with the syringe, she said.

Gault testified that family members told him Watson had been using drugs
intravenously for several years. He said Davis had not used heroin for
several months.

"We are unable to identify the drug seller at this point," he said.

Both men died from heroin intoxication. Their deaths were ruled accidental.

(SIDEBAR)

Of Note: Emergency department episodes involving heroin nationwide:
. 1997 70,712
. 1998 75,688
. 1999 82,192
. 2000 94,804

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services