Pubdate: Sat, 22 Jul 2006
Source: Plain Dealer, The (Wabash IN)
Contact:  http://www.wabashplaindealer.com
Address: PO Box 379, Wabash, IN 46992
Fax: 260-563-0816
Copyright: 2006 Wabash Plain Dealer
Author: Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)

COMMUNITY NEAR MUNCIE WORRIED ABOUT OVERDOSE DEATHS

HARTFORD CITY - A growing number of overdoses of prescription drugs 
including the powerful synthetic painkiller fentanyl has caught the 
attention of Blackford County officials. They met this week to 
discuss some alarming statistics, including at least nine deaths 
attributed to "mixed-drug intoxication" in the north-central county 
since 2003. Local ambulance runs for the first five months of 2006 
include 30 known drug overdoses and 146 for patients having "altered 
levels" of consciousness.

Detective Jack Beckley, in a statement issued by the Hartford City 
Police Department on Wednesday, noted the irony that prescription 
drugs are distributed by doctors "here to heal us and improve our 
quality of life." "It is so unfortunate that there are certain people 
in society that take advantage of this by intentionally deceiving 
medical personnel just to get more pills or patches that they can 
turn around and sell, which in turn creates more addicts and dealers. 
It is a vicious cycle," Beckley said.

The nine fatal overdoses claimed the lives of six men and three women 
whose average age was 41, County Coroner Ted Waters said. The drugs 
found in their bodies included opiates and synthetic, opiate-based 
prescription medications such as fentanyl, hydrocodone, oxycodone, 
methadone, and alprazolam, a generic form of the anti-anxiety drug 
Xanax. In nearby Tipton County, toxicology tests showed a 21-year-old 
jail inmate, Joshua Lee Maine, died last November of "mixed-drug 
intoxication" involving fentanyl and alprazolam. At least seven 
deaths in Indiana since 2005 have been blamed on abuse of fentanyl 
skin patches, and more than 100 deaths have been reported this year 
from Chicago to Philadelphia among drug addicts who overdosed on 
heroin mixed with fentanyl.

Hartford City Police Chief Matt Felver and other officials urged the 
public to become aware of the dangers of prescription drug abuse and 
report any suspicious activity involving the sale or trade of medications.

They encouraged local residents not to leave prescription medications 
unattended in their cars or around their homes. They also warned that 
placing a prescription medication, a controlled substance, in a 
different container not intended for it could violate state law.

"These tips sound like common sense, but unfortunately law 
enforcement has to deal with these types of predicaments every day," 
Beckley said.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman