SMALL HEROIN BAGS BIG PROBLEM IN CITY

NASHUA - Postage-stamp-sized bags of heroin with the slogans "mo' money"
and "it's hot" underneath an image of a red devil holding a pitchfork are
causing concern for police.

Authorities said Friday that they have been seeing a rash of people, from
age 19 to late 30s, being rushed to area hospitals after overdosing on
heroin in the city.

There have been at least eight overdoses since the third week in March,
including three people last weekend alone, said Nashua police Lt. Bruce Hansen.

So far, one person, a man, died in early April from an overdose that
authorities believe is connected to this batch of the drug. Police did not
give details on the man's death, saying it remains under investigation.

"We're trying to backtrack" to trace the drugs, Hansen said.

What exactly is causing the upswing in hospital visits among heroin users
remains a mystery.

"We don't know if it's just an increased purity . . . or an additive in the
bag," Hansen said.

The narcotics officer said he is "not naive" enough to think that
"hard-core" people addicted to the drug will stop at his warning, but he
wants the message to get out to people who are "thinking about trying the
stuff."

"This may be the last thing you do. Think twice before you do this," Hansen
said.

Investigators have sent samples to the state laboratory in Concord to
figure out what is causing the overdoses, but the results won't be known
for some time, he said.

Currently, dealers are selling purer heroin, so a user might try too much
of the drug and overload his system.

"His body isn't used to it," Hansen said.

The purer heroin also changes how people use the powdered narcotic. The old
image of an addict using a needle to inject the drug is not necessarily the
case now. The drug is so pure that people can either snort it or even eat
it to get their high, he said.

Hansen described many users as "people who are fairly new to it."

Oftentimes, Hansen said people using drugs will "sanitize" a room or house,
discarding evidence so police do not find it when an ambulance is called.

Instead of higher purity levels, Hansen said it could be impurities that
are causing the overdoses. Dealers sometimes will dilute bags of heroin
with similar looking additives to stretch their supply. Officers have heard
of kitchen-cleaning chemicals being mixed in with the drugs, Hansen said.

Typically, heroin shows up in the city from either Lowell or Lawrence,
Mass. And Lowell has had four drug-related deaths since January, Hansen said.

The drug has made a rebound in the area since the late 1990s. It is
recognized as the second biggest drug problem in most communities, after
cocaine, Hansen said.