Pubdate: Sat, 12 Nov 2005
Source: Marion Star, The (OH)
Copyright: 2005 The Marion Star.
Contact: http://www.marionstar.com/customerservice/contactus.html
Website: http://www.marionstar.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2991
Author: Kurt Moore

WOMAN DIES FROM SUSPECTED METHADONE OVERDOSE

Woman's Friend Hospitalized

MARION - Two suspected methadone overdoses, one fatal, have the 
Marion Police Department scrambling to determine how the highly 
regulated drug may be getting into the community.

Maj. Tom Robbins said Kimberly Hamm, a 19-year-old Marion woman, died 
early Thursday morning from a drug overdose. A friend, whose name 
police are not releasing, is being treated at Marion General Hospital 
after his mom found him unresponsive at his home Thursday afternoon 
and called 9-1-1.

Robbins said officers are waiting for results of toxicology and 
coroner's reports before determining whether the drug was methadone. 
He said information uncovered by officers during the investigation 
led them to believe it is. Police searched a Fies Avenue home and 
have made three arrests, one on an unrelated warrant out of Marion 
Municipal Court. The case will be presented to the Marion County 
Prosecutor's Office on Monday for determination of final charges.

"We're still working this pretty hard," said Robbins, who said 
several officers worked beyond the ends of their Thursday evening 
shifts investigating the case. "We've had people working 24 hours on 
this. It is uncommon and that concerns us."

Police arrested Shane Houseworth, 23, 623 Blake St., on a felony 
charge of trafficking in drugs. Bryan Nichols, 23, 267 Fies Ave., was 
originally arrested on a charge of obstructing official business and 
is being held on a felony charge of possession of methadone.

Officers who searched Nichols' house also arrested his 20-year-old 
brother Robert Nichols, who was wanted on a warrant for contributing 
to the delinquency of a minor. Family members said he was released on bond.

Marion Police Lt. Jeff Shenefield said he could not answer whether 
police believe Houseworth was who supplied Hamm and her friend with 
the drugs that caused the overdoses. He also could not answer whether 
the two overdose victims received the drugs from the same person.

"That's what we're checking into right now," he said.

While Hamm was a friend of Nichols' sister and was at Nichols' house 
shortly before the overdose, Nichols' mother Laura Check said no one 
in her family supplied Hamm with the drug. She said she forgot to 
tell police that she gave some of her boyfriend's prescribed 
methadone to her son Bryan because he injured his back while moving furniture.

"Someone said they had gotten some kind of medicine off of my sons," 
Check said. "My son never sold no pills to nobody.

"The girl was my kids' friend, best friend. It's a tragedy, tearing 
us all up. I'm more tore up about her passing away than them putting 
my son in jail."

Neither Shenefield nor Robbins were available for additional comment.

Methadone is a synthetic narcotic used as a painkiller. It has also 
been used for more than 30 years to help suppress withdrawal symptoms 
of heroin addicts.

According to the federal Office of National Drug Control Policy, 
about 20 percent of the country's nearly 810,000 heroin addicts 
receive methadone as part of their treatment.

The drug was originally developed as an alternative to morphine and 
other pain-killers by German scientists during World War II. 
According to the Center for Substance Abuse Research, the effects of 
a single dose can last anywhere from 24 to 36 hours.

Police and local drug prevention and treatment agencies said 
methadone is not a common drug of choice among local drug abusers. It 
is also highly regulated and not easy to get.

Marion County Alcohol, Drugs and Mental Health Board Director Jodi 
Demo-Hodgins said heroin addicts are only given the drug under 
supervision of drug treatment facilities and must attend the facility 
every day in order to receive methadone.

"There's a whole lot of structure in how these places work," she 
said. "They literally give you a white cup and you take it in front of them."

Marion County lacks any in-patient drug rehabilitation center and 
refers many addicts seeking treatment to the Comp Drug Inc. treatment 
center in Columbus, one of the few methadone treatment programs 
available in the state. An employee of Comp Drug said Friday that no 
one was available to answer questions about the use or availability methadone.

Robbins said methadone abuse is not unheard of in the community but 
is rare. Shenefield said there have been other cases of lethal 
methadone overdoses over the past few years, but never does he 
remember two overdoses happening in such a close time period.

Robbins said police are trying to determine the source of the 
narcotics "and trying to extinguish it."

What Is Methadone?

Short-term side effects:

Restlessness, vomiting, nausea, slowed breathing, itchy skin, pupil 
contraction, severe sweating, constipation, sexual dysfunction, death.

Long-term side effects:

Lung and respiration problems.

Where to seek treatment of drug addiction

Center director David Wilhelm said Marion County lacks in-patient 
drug rehabilitation facilities and, when necessary, refers people in 
need of such services out of the county.

More information on the center and what it offers is available by 
calling 740-387-5210.
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