Day 2 - Part 2: South Texas Trafficking - Anatomy Of A Pipeline

DOCTOR: CITY HIGH IN DRUG ABUSE

ER Physician Says Substances Range From Heroin To Alcohol

When David E. Blanchard came to Corpus Christi three years ago to become
the chief of the emergency room at Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial, he was
a 20-year veteran, having worked at hospitals in Chicago, Arizona and
Victoria. But it only took a month at the city's busiest emergency room to
discover that Corpus Christi wasn't like the other places he had worked.
"Corpus is a city highly infested with people using illicit drugs," said
Blanchard, 50. "Of all the emergency departments I've worked . . . this is
probably the area most populated with drug use."

That translates to everything from what he calls a growing number of heroin
overdoses, to paint sniffing to crack and powder cocaine to the occasional
ecstasy incident.

"We see a potpourri of everything you can imagine, either legal or
illegal," Blanchard said.

The doctor also sees a variety of people involved in overdoses or
drug-related accidents.

Drug use is not confined to lower socioeconomic levels or minority groups,
he said.

"Many people under the influence of alcohol and substances are working
people or professionals," he said.

"They are functional to the point where you wouldn't notice they were on
drugs until they are tested."

Blanchard said the most common illegal drug-related ailments are from
cocaine users who come in with their heart racing and are worried they are
going to die.

Such people are generally habitual users who happened to take more than
usual or got hold of an unusually pure grade of the drug.

Heroin use is not as prevalent as that of cocaine, but it is on the
upswing, Blanchard said.

But Blanchard said that, by far, the drug most abused by ER patients is
alcohol, and accidents related to that legal drug outpace those connected
to illegal drugs by a wide margin.

Blanchard also said that alcohol abuse and alcohol-related accidents occur
at a higher rate in Corpus Christi than in any of the other places he's worked.