Pubdate: Sat, 17 Nov 2001 Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News (CO) Copyright: 2001 Denver Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.denver-rmn.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/371 Authors: Robert Sanchez and Lynn Bartels Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?132 (Heroin Overdose) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) HEROIN DEATHS STUN THE SUBURBS Two Students Among Eight Who Have Died In Past Three Months In Arapahoe, Douglas A wave of heroin overdose deaths has surged through Arapahoe and Douglas counties, devastating families, stunning authorities and providing the clearest indication yet that the inner-city drug is making a major new push into the suburbs. Even more worrisome to officials, two high school students are among the eight who died from heroin overdoses recorded in the past three months. Police say dealers may be targeting Highlands Ranch and southern Arapahoe County because many teens there can afford the $20 to $25 for a nugget of heroin. "Heroin is becoming the drug of choice out here," said Terry Higgins, father of one of the dead students, Austin Higgins, 17, of Highlands Ranch. "It's to the point where we might as well line up the hearses because it'll continue to happen unless people wake up." A 19-year-old Douglas County resident is suspected of selling the heroin that killed Higgins and Elliot Wallace, 17, of Lone Tree. Police said the investigation continues. Arapahoe County coroner Michael Dobersen was startled when he tallied the heroin-related deaths his office has handled since August. At first, he thought there might be two or three. He found seven. Even though most of the deaths involve adults with a history of multiple drug use, Dobersen said the number indicates that the south metro area has a problem. Elaine Spahn is grieving over the death of her brother, Dave Collins, 39, who was found dead in his Littleton apartment Oct. 27. He died from an accidental overdose of heroin and alcohol. By all accounts he didn't use heroin much. Spahn didn't know her brother used it at all. "We're all so naive here in Littleton," she said. "We think this is small-town America. We think of apple pie and Western Welcome Week." The two students from Douglas County who died attended Highlands Ranch High School before transferring to alternative schools. David Smucker, assistant principal at Highland Ranch High School, said the school has worked closely with the sheriff's office since the deaths. He said the two students' overdoses "touched" the Highlands Ranch community. Smucker said the large number of deaths -- which he'd been unaware of - -- makes it apparent that heroin use is a community problem. Austin Higgins was found dead Sept. 9 on the couch in his bedroom, with two syringes on a table next to his body. His twin brother, Jacob, watched as their father performed mouth-to-mouth on the boy. Elliot Wallace, 17, of Lone Tree died Aug. 26 at a party in Littleton after smoking a rock of heroin with newly-made friends. He had a reputation for saying "no" to alcohol and preaching about the dangers of cigarette smoking. "Really, there is no place you can live because there's no magic wonderland," said Wallace's mother, Sandi. "You can still do everything for your kids and have bad things happen." Arapahoe County sheriff's Sgt. Bob Dale was one of the first officers on the scene at Wallace's death. In recent weeks, he's responded to three fatal heroin overdoses, and two calls where four people survived their brush with the drug. Before the recent rash, Dale's last call to a heroin overdose occurred at Fiddler's Green -- more than five years ago. "When I think of heroin now, I'm not thinking of it as a drug only for the down-and-out or homeless or junkie," he said. Commander Lynn Spears of the South Metro Drug Task Force said heroin traditionally is viewed as an inner-city drug. But Denver is reporting that the number of its heroin-related deaths in the last three months is below average. Police suspect that the dealers targeting teen-agers are buying "black tar" heroin shipped from Mexico to Denver's gangs. From there it goes to suburban dealers, who are suspected of distributing it at high school parties. "Now it's out here," Spears said. "The kids start smoking it on weekends, and then they're hooked. They want their fix, and only the dealer out here can give it to them. "It's a profitable business in the suburbs." Spears speculated that the heroin sold to the two high school students who overdosed might have been too potent, above the usual 25 to 28 percent purity that is normally ingested. Suburban teen-age heroin users are smoking, rather than injecting, the drug, Spears said. "They're naive because they think it'll be safer, more like crack. They think the needles are the things that'll kill you," he said. Arapahoe County prosecutor Brian Sugioka, who handles drug cases, said a small pocket of teens in the two counties are "very heavily addicted and involved" in the drug, which is beginning to spread into the general suburban high school population. "It's not that we value the lives of wealthy kids more than lower-middle-class ones, but we're seeing (heroin) use increase in a population where it hasn't been before," he said. "That's scary." Sugioka this year has prosecuted or advised police on 15 heroin cases. "That's definitely a lot," he said. "Last October (2000), it was meth and ecstasy. Then, six months ago, heroin became highly visible." Harl Hargett is the executive director of Lost and Found Inc., a drug treatment center based in Wheat Ridge. Higgins, one of the students who died, spent much of his summer in out-patient counseling sessions and in-patient treatment at the company's Morrison-area facility. "I don't know if this is the point where heroin becomes critically available or if it's just a blurp on the screen," he said. "This generation is at a crossroads." - --- MAP posted-by: Josh