Pubdate: 04 Feb 2001
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2001 The Baltimore Sun, a Times Mirror Newspaper.
Contact:  501 N. Calvert Street P.0. Box 1377 Baltimore, MD 21278
Fax: (410) 315-8912
Website: http://www.sunspot.net/
Forum: http://www.sunspot.net/cgi-bin/ultbb/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro
Author: Todd Richissin, Sun Staff

NO DECLINE IN HEROIN OVERDOSES

Despite Action Plan, Number Of Deaths Remains Record High

  Nearly two years after state officials announced their most comprehensive 
fight against heroin, the drug continues to kill Marylanders in record 
numbers, with almost 300 more fatal overdoses in 2000 than a decade ago.

Heroin related overdoses last year  474 statewide, including 304 in 
Baltimore  were at about the same level as in 1999, according to the state 
medical examiner's office.

But 1999 was a record year for heroin deaths in Maryland, and two 
consecutive years of such numbers have raised concerns among health workers 
and law enforcement officials. They are troubled by the drug's reach, from 
the inner city to the suburbs and beyond, and by its potency, which they 
say has never been greater.

"It says heroin's becoming a more accessible drug," said William T. 
Rusinko, the chief of management information services at the state's 
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration. "All we can do is hope that it turns 
the corner," he added. "Right now, given all the indicators, I'm not ready 
to say that's happening."

Nobody knows for certain what has fueled the increase in the number of 
deaths, but officials have little doubt that significantly more potent 
heroin is playing a large part.

Drug Is More Potent

Law enforcement officers in Maryland began noticing a stronger version of 
the drug about two years ago, particularly in West Baltimore.

Even so called "low quality" heroin has gone from about 4 percent purity to 
about 14 percent purity during that time, said Dr. Shiv Soni, supervisor of 
the drug analysis unit of the Baltimore Police Department.

Of even more concern, he said, "high quality" heroin now averages about 75 
percent purity, with some of it close to 100 percent pure. "That's like 
we've never seen it before," he said.

The increased potency could be contributing to the deaths in at least two 
ways said Dr. Peter L. Bielenson, Baltimore health commissioner.

With stronger heroin, users can get the effects of the drug by snorting or 
smoking it  rather than injecting it with a needle  which has attracted 
younger users.

Also, longtime users who are experienced with lower grade heroin might be 
using the more potent variety in comparable quantities.

"A 15 year old kid who goes to a party in Westminster and has never used it 
before and snorts it may well overdose," Bielenson said. "The higher the 
purity,the higher the risk that somebody's going to overdose, and the 
purity is significantly higher."

Addicts in Baltimore said last week that, increasingly, they're finding 
bodies, some with needles still in the arms, at the vacant houses and 
darkened alleys they use as shooting galleries.

"When they're fixing it up, they're doing it too strong," said Wayne 
Scofield, 36, who was getting clean needles from a city program in West 
Baltimore. "When it's strong like that, you have to use more water [to 
dilute the heroin before injecting it], but they don't want to do that."

When Maryland officials began seeing increased heroin use in suburban and 
rural areas in 1997 and 1998, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend announced 
a "heroin action plan," aimed primarily at keeping younger, suburban users 
away from the drug.

"The numbers tell us we have a lot more work to do," said Michael Sarbanes, 
Townsend's director of policy and planning. "It's good that we're picking 
it up in a systematic way, but clearly we have to redouble our efforts to 
bring those numbers down."

Sarbanes said that he will lead a task force for an in-depth study of 50 
heroin related deaths to find additional information about how and why the 
overdoses are occurring.

Nationwide Increase

Numbers for other states are not yet available, but figures from the 
federal government indicate that the number of heroin users across the 
country has been increasing. In 1999, there were 149,000 new heroin users, 
according to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. In 
all, almost 1 million people in the country now use the drug, up from about 
600,000 in the early 1990s, according to the drug control office.

The number of heroin users in Maryland is unknown, but officials say the 
increased number of deaths, along with increasing demand for treatment, 
tells them the state has more users than ever. Officials in Baltimore say 
they believe that there are tens of thousands of heroin users in the city.