Pubdate: Thu, 05 Oct 2006
Source: Sentinel, The (Carlisle, PA)
Copyright: 2006 The Sentinel, a division of Lee Enterprise
Contact:  http://www.cumberlink.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4268
Author: Eric Harkreader
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)

DEADLY DRUG COCKTAIL SURFACES LOCALLY

With a potentially deadly batch of heroin blamed for the deaths of 
two Cumberland County residents in two days, Coroner Mike Norris had 
a very simple message:

"I don't need the business, folks. We need to make it known that this 
deadly combination is out there," he said at a press conference 
Wednesday morning. In front of him, two enlarged color photographs 
each contained a small bag with a crude black stamp on it.

On one, the word "DIESEL" had been stamped.

Authorities had just confirmed Tuesday night that the substance 
inside -- a mix of heroin and potent pain-killers rarely seen in the 
county -- was in the blood of a 28-year-old Carlisle man found dead 
in his home Monday, Cumberland County District Attorney Dave Freed 
said. Police have identified the deceased as Phillip L. Miller of the 
1000 block of South Hanover Street.

The other packet bore only the small insignia of a skull and crossbones.

"It was more appropriate than perhaps the person stamping it knew," 
Norris said. Both bags were single hits and would have cost about $20, he said.

A 29-year-old woman was found dead in Lower Allen Tuesday. Same-day 
test results from a recently created forensic lab confirmed that it 
was contained both heroin and fentanyl, as did the DIESEL packet, 
Freed said. A sample of the second victim's blood had been mailed 
overnight to a separate lab, with Norris confirming Wednesday night 
that toxicology results further confirmed the presence of both drugs 
in her body.

Freed and Norris have said that it appeared both victims had injected 
the substance, which appears to have come from different sources.

Traced To Harrisburg

"We have two different types of packaging," Freed said, adding: "We 
have every reason to believe the bag found in Lower Allen came from 
Harrisburg."

Carlisle Mayor Kirk Wilson said the Carlisle bag was also tentatively 
traced to Harrisburg, but that "I don't think they are the same people."

"In general, it's purchased in Harrisburg. It's sort of a middle 
source. The heroin is packaged elsewhere, in Baltimore, Philadelphia 
and New York," he said.

It was probably cut with fentanyl -- a medication that is 50 to 100 
times more potent than morphine and available almost exclusively at 
hospitals -- so that the dealer could claim his goods pack "more 
punch" than other suppliers', Freed said.

"The irony of the situation is, the closer the heroin is to being 
able to kill, the more appealing it is to the addict," Freed said.

And while his role is primarily as an enforcer of the law, Freed 
said, retarding the circulation of similarly deadly doses was the top priority.

'A Larger Issue'

"This is a crime, but there's a larger issue here. People can 
overcome an addiction, people can overcome criminal charges, but they 
can't overcome death," he said, urging addicts to consider using the 
deaths as motivation to "get help."

The exact proportions of fentanyl to heroin were not yet available. 
Norris said it wouldn't take much of the more expensive painkiller to 
have a lethal interaction with its more common poppy-derived cousin.

In light of several recent deaths in Dauphin County attributed to 
heroin/fentanyl combinations, Freed said investigators have not yet 
determined where the fentanyl is coming from. It's believed that 
clandestine labs are to blame, he said.

In June, the Associated Press quoted U.S. drug czar John Walters 
reporting a recently closed lab in Mexico that might be the main 
source of the fentanyl being put in U.S. heroin.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said it was testing fentanyl 
seized in Mexico to see if it could be linked to deaths in Illinois, 
Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland.

The AP also said at the time that fentanyl-laced heroin had been 
blamed in "recent months" for at least 100 deaths from Philadelphia 
to Chicago, including several in Pittsburgh earlier this summer.

Freed said the confiscated packets -- which are rarely found with 
heroin overdoses -- would be analyzed in the hopes of determining their origin.

Not Same Grade

Norris added that the sort of fentanyl available in prescription 
patches is not likely the same grade of fentanyl found in the deadly blends.

A North Middleton woman was arrested recently on charges that she had 
been stealing the patches from a terminally ill nursing home patient 
- -- a case that Freed referred to but called unrelated.

As for the legal ramifications for the suppliers of the deadly 
packets, Freed pointed to a a specific charge -- drug delivery 
resulting in death -- but said it was difficult to prove.

"That requires the same state of mind required for third-degree 
murder: malice and intent," he said.       Norris added: "We have no 
reason to believe that somebody's purposefully trying to kill heroin 
users... a drug dealer doesn't make any more money if their people 
don't come back."

Freed noted that heroin users are increasingly younger in age.

"Parents should be extra vigilant," he said, as the packets are often 
referred to by their stamp names, which ranges from "Apollo" in some 
of the Dauphin County cases to "DIESEL" and other designations.

He pointed out that, while police are bound by strict search and 
seizure guidelines, parents are not.

"If they suspect something, they shouldn't be afraid to check in 
drawers and shoeboxes... their children may be upset with them for 
going in their room, but it could save their life."

Cumberland DA's Crime Lab Provides Speedy Science

Cumberland County officials are crediting a little-known crime lab 
with the speedy science that allowed them to isolate the suspected 
lethal cause of two deaths this week and make a connection between them.

The Cumberland County Forensic Lab, a division of the district 
attorney's Bureau of Justice Services, was first started some four 
years ago in the old prison on High Street. Authorities said they 
were creating the first independent county lab in the state because a 
lighter and smaller case load would allow for more flexibility in 
prioritizing cases.

For example, Director of Justice Services Eric Radnovich in January 
estimated the average turn-around time for crime-scene samples at 22 
days. At the time, he stressed that authorities could finish more 
urgent cases in even less time.

In Tuesday's suspected fatal overdose, authorities were called in the 
morning after a woman was found dead in Lower Allen.       By "lunch 
time," Cumberland County Coroner Mike Norris dropped off a bag of 
suspected heroin at the lab.

"We had the results by 3:30" p.m., he said. "It's another advantage 
of having a forensic lab set up in the county."

At last count, the lab has four full-time employees and a part-timer 
in addition to municipal police officers assigned to specialized 
response units. For instance, there are 12 officers in the county who 
are assigned to and respond with a crime scene analysis team. An 
additional six officers are on a special vehicular accident 
reconstruction team that is called out to the more serious accidents.

In 2005, the bureau's drug laboratory processed 1,125 chemical 
samples, many of them against drug "standards" of pure, uncut 
contraband, Radnovich said.

The lab contains equipment ranging from the $100,000 gas 
chromatograph/mass spectrometer to a homemade super-glue fuming tank.

Although quick to praise existing regional crime labs that provide 
free services to municipal police, county officials say the lab's 
larger case load means longer turn-around times -- one official has 
estimated it at about 22 days with state police labs.

"That's the nice thing about having your own lab, when your bosses 
come to you and say put a priority on this, you can," Radnovich said.

His "boss," meanwhile, said in the past, investigators might had to 
wait even longer.

"This way, we've had results long before the autopsies are done," 
Cumberland County District Attorney Dave Freed said.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman