Pubdate: Mon, 05 Jun 2006
Source: Record, The (Stockton, CA)
Copyright: 2006 The Record
Contact:  http://www.recordnet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/428
Author:    Ellen Thompson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

METH STILL DEADLIEST DRUG IN S.J.

Methamphetamine continues to outpace heroin as the deadliest illegal 
drug in San Joaquin County.

According to an annual coroner's report, 50 deaths were blamed on 
methamphetamine each year in 2004 and 2005. Last year was the fourth 
in which methamphetamine deaths outnumbered heroin deaths in the 
county. Heroin killed 15 people last year and 32 in 2004, according 
to the report.

Gospel Center Rescue Mission drug counselor Joseph Tabangcura said 
the death rates reported by the county highlight methamphetamine's 
unrecognized pervasiveness.

"Meth is undercover in so many ways," Tabangcura said. "It's hiding 
behind violence. It's hiding behind the gangs."

Frances Hutchins wasn't surprised to see that heroin and 
methamphetamine have swapped places over the past few years as the 
biggest and second-biggest killers of drug users countywide. 
Hutchins, the deputy director of San Joaquin County Substance Abuse 
Services, said the number of overdose deaths in the report mirrors an 
increase in methamphetamine use in the county.

She said the county drug-treatment program, with both residential and 
outpatient services, has seen the number of people seeking help for 
methamphetamine use quadruple in the past five years.

"Obviously there's a significant increase," San Joaquin County 
Sheriff's Office spokesman Les Garcia said of the number of 
methamphetamine overdose deaths.

That doesn't mean heroin use is down.

Sheriff's Office Capt. Armondo Mayoya directs the San Joaquin County 
Metropolitan Narcotics Task Force. He said heroin use is increasing, 
though not as quickly as methamphetamine use.

"It slipped for a while but now is making a comeback," Mayoya said.

The number of heroin overdose deaths reported by the coroner's office 
has fluctuated in recent years, as opposed to the steady upward trend 
in methamphetamine-related deaths.

Dale Benner is executive director of the transitional home New 
Directions. He said there's probably not much overlap between 
methamphetamine and heroin users, because the two drugs produce very 
different highs. Heroin is a narcotic that causes a sleepy euphoria, 
Benner said. Methamphetamine, known by many other names including 
speed, makes people agitated and keeps them awake, he said.

Benner said there's another difference. Methamphetamine appears to be 
even harder to quit than heroin.

"The problem or the attraction with meth is that nothing else matches 
that high," he said.

Mayoya said methamphetamine can be more dangerous for the general 
public than heroin.

"From the standpoint of a heroin user, ... you get a more mellow type 
of influence with that. With methamphetamine, with crystal meth, 
chronic users, heavy users become violent."
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