RISE IN HEROIN DEATHS DECRIED

An increase in fatal drug overdoses, sparked by cheap, pure and available
heroin in the area, is troubling Dane County law enforcement officers.

There were only three heroin deaths in Dane County from 1993 to 1995, but
there have been 24 fatal heroin overdoses here since October of 1998,
including three this year.

"Heroin's becoming an increasing problem," said Dane County Sheriff Gary
Hamblin. "It seems to be an alarming increase to me."

The National Drug Intelligence Center in Johnstown, Pa., reported last May
that heroin abuse was increasing in Wisconsin.

"Although the Wisconsin Division of Narcotics Enforcement reports that few
drug units cite heroin as an increasing problem, the Wisconsin Department
of Justice predicts that heroin will become more prevalent and its
availability may expand to new areas throughout the state," the report said.

The federal Drug and Alcohol Services Information System reported in
January that Wisconsin had the 11th largest increase in heroin treatment
admission rates, leaping 136 percent from 1993 to 1999. By contrast, the
national average increase was 11 percent.

While the rate of increase is large, actual numbers in Wisconsin are still
relatively small. In 1999, the admission rate for primary heroin abuse in
the United States was 105 per 100,000 persons ages 12 or older. In
Wisconsin, the rate was less than three per 100,000.

Darrin Owens, a Dane County Jail inmate who died in January, had heroin in
his system, Dane County Coroner John Stanley disclosed Friday. A final
ruling on the death will be released next week.

The 32-year-old, who had a pre-existing medical condition, apparently took
heroin while on work-release from the jail.

Hamblin isn't releasing his department's report on the death just yet
because the Dane County Narcotics and Gang Task Force, which includes the
Sheriff's Office and Madison, UW-Madison and suburban police departments,
is searching for the source of Owens' heroin and targeting mid- and
high-level drug traffickers.

Last year, among the 679 drug-related charges in Dane County, most were for
marijuana, crack and heroin, the task force said. The year before, it was
marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and cocaine.

The task force is focusing on major dealers because they can be charged
under Wisconsin's so-called Len Bias law, making those who supply fatal
doses of illegal drugs criminally liable for selling it. Bias was a
University of Maryland basketball star who died of a cocaine overdose in 1986.

Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard said Dane County has never
prosecuted a case under the Len Bias law, since it's often difficult to
prove the person's death was substantially related to the overdose.

"If somebody is dealing in heroin and the person who takes it dies, and we
had enough proof, we wouldn't hesitate to charge that person," Blanchard said.

In neighboring Rock County, however, an Oregon man was charged last week
with homicide for supplying heroin and cocaine in the 2001 drug overdose
death of a young Edgerton man.

State Justice Department figures show heroin use is on the rise. Ten years
ago, the state Crime Laboratory had only 53 cases involving heroin. Last
year, there were 106, Department of Justice spokesman Randy Romanski said.

Heroin, which comes from Asia, Mexico and South America, is more pure than
in previous decades, meaning it can be snorted rather than injected,
Hamblin said.

"The ability to snort heroin removes some of the stigma with needles,"
Romanski said.

The increase in heroin overdoses is tied to its high quality and street
price. Decades ago, the heroin on the street was 3 percent to 4 percent
pure, Hamblin said. Now it's close to 100 percent pure.

"We used to see it only used by junkies in big cities, but now we're
finding it in rural Dane County," Hamblin said.

Professionals who treat heroin users also have noticed. "There's no doubt
that heroin use has risen in the Madison area in the last several years,"
said Dr. Michael Miller, medical director at Meriter Hospital's NewStart
program.

"This is part of a national trend in which young people believe that heroin
is not all that dangerous," Miller said. "At Meriter, we've seen more
cases, more admissions, more intravenous heroin addiction - and with all
that comes hepatitis B and C and HIV."

The national drug center's report on Wisconsin said heroin purity levels,
some measuring as high as 95 percent, are higher than ever before.

"Rising purity levels have led to an increased demand for heroin, which in
turn has led to an increasing number of heroin users in the state," the
report said.

Dr. Mike Bohn, medical director of Gateway Recovery, said more people are
overdosing on heroin because they miscalculate a dose or are surprised by
its potency.

Bohn said many quit using - possibly because they're in jail - then
relapse, using the same dose to which they had built a tolerance before
quitting.

"Their body can't handle it," Bohn said. "They've taken more drugs than
they're able to tolerate."

People who overdose stop breathing and suffocate, but don't gasp for air or
realize they're dying because the drug stops the pain sensors in the brain,
Bohn said.

Experts believe treating heroin addiction is most successful with
counseling and prescription drugs, such as methadone, which block
withdrawal symptoms, but the Dane County jail doesn't allow methadone
treatment. State officials estimate about 1,800 people are in methadone
maintenance programs in Wisconsin.

"I'm terribly concerned when heroin use increases and people view it as a
criminal justice problem," Miller said. "This is a health problem. Patients
with addictions need health care services."

Miller said many people believe methadone maintenance is substituting one
addiction for another.

"Some people think that making methadone maintenance treatment available
increases the amount of opiate addiction in a community," Miller said. "I
find it unfortunate that so many biases remain."