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SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA STATISTICS REVEAL: DRUG DEATHS AT 'EPIDEMIC' LEVELS

TAZEWELL, Va.  - The number of fatal drug overdoses in Southwest Virginia have more than tripled in the past decade, health officials said Tuesday.

A study by the Virginia Department of Health's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner found that 168 of the prescription drug-related overdose deaths, or 80 percent for the year 2003, were accidental with the pill form of the synthetic narcotic methadone, often prescribed for pain, accounting for the majority of the accidental deaths.

The report found that drug deaths in Southwest Virginia tripled in the past decade, from 66 deaths in 1993 to 217 in 2003.  In 211 of those deaths, prescription narcotics were involved.

The problem has reached epidemic levels in Tazewell County, Commonwealth Attorney Dennis Lee said.

"Tazewell County is ( ranked ) third in the Western District, which includes 50 cities and counties," Lee said.  "Roanoke is number one, and Russell County is number two.  It is an epidemic, and nearly all of them are accidental overdoses, and not suicides.  A lot of these are people who have not had a history of overdose.  There are many young people who are not long-term drug abusers, and in many instances, they think they can handle it and die."

The report found 12 overdose deaths were reported in Tazewell County in 2003.  However, more than nine people died during the first eight months of 2004 as a result of an accident overdose, and the final number for the year is estimated at between 13 to 14 deaths.

"Our officers have standing orders to investigate any overdose death as a potential murder case," Lee said.  "If we can show who supplied the drugs that led to the death of someone, we have in the past and we will in the future prosecute that person for felony murder."

The war against the drug problem in Tazewell County continues, Sheriff H.S.  Caudill said.