Pubdate: Sun, 18 Jun 2006 Source: Palm Beach Post, The (FL) Copyright: 2006 The Palm Beach Post Contact: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/333 Author: Sofia Santana, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone) COCAINE DEATHS SPUR CALL FOR HELP With the latest state figures showing Palm Beach County leading the state in cocaine-related deaths, local politicians, law enforcement officials and drug abuse prevention workers are pushing harder than ever to draw attention to the unrelenting problem and get help from state and federal agencies. The response has been slow, but local and state leaders are finally talking about cocaine again, said Doris Carroll, who heads the Palm Beach County Substance Abuse Coalition. "We're not sweeping it under the rug as much as we used to," Carroll said of the cocaine problem. "Now, we're getting ready to vacuum." The renewed interest in cocaine's influence on Palm Beach County follows a series of Palm Beach Post stories in May that examined cocaine's deadly effects locally and across the state and the subsequent release of a state report showing that Palm Beach County reported the most cocaine-related deaths in Florida in 2005. The number of people in the county who died with cocaine in their system last year was so high that deaths linked to the drug almost outnumbered traffic deaths. The county medical examiner's office counted 197 cocaine-related deaths last year; the Florida Highway Patrol recorded 200 traffic deaths. Despite the grim statistics, local law enforcement agencies are struggling to get money from a federally funded regional task force that oversees $12.8 million for major drug investigations. The task force, called HIDTA, for "high intensity drug trafficking area," receives money from the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The county has yet to receive a dime from the task force, even though the amount the group gets is based partly on illegal drug activity reports from Palm Beach County. Task force leaders have said that they thought they would receive more money when Palm Beach County joined, but that they have not. Still, local law enforcement agencies want their share and are threatening to pull out of the program. "We don't want that to happen," said U. S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fort Pierce, one of the politicians who urged county officials to join the task force, promising $2 million to $3 million in extra money for drug investigations. Foley whose district includes parts of northern Palm Beach County, said he is discussing the issue with task force officials and is trying to convince them to give money to Palm Beach County, using county statistics and the Post stories as evidence of the county's major drug problem. The state's new drug czar, Bill Janes, said he hopes to travel to Palm Beach County soon to learn more about the area's struggles with cocaine and prescription drugs. He has spent his first four months on the job travelling to other parts of the state. "Your statistics are a concern to me," Janes said, referring to The Post's reporting. The county drug coalition, which falls under the Office of National Drug Control Policy, plans to arrange a community forum about cocaine in the coming months to encourage discussion about the drug, which is claiming lives mostly in the 35-and-older age group. "These are people who are parents," Carroll said, pointing out that many people assume that it's mostly young people who are dying after using cocaine. Instead, the statistics show that people who were part of the generation that experienced crack and powder cocaine's surge in popularity in the 1980s are the ones who are dying today after years of chronic cocaine use. "It's the Baby Boomers and the Generation Xers that we are still seeing using the drug," said Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Capt. Karl Durr, who oversees narcotics investigations. The sheriff's office is adding three narcotics detectives to its organized crime bureau, one of whom will focus on prescription drug fraud, Durr said. He added that the latest drug-related death statistics reflect the extent of the drug market in the county. Cocaine is the most prevalent and deadliest drug in the county and state, with nearly 3,000 overdoses involving the drug reported statewide from 2000 to 2005. There were 1,943 cocaine-related deaths in Florida in 2005, and 732 of them were overdoses. Also, prescription drug-related overdoses appear to be on the rise statewide and locally. FDLE statistics show that oxycodone (OxyContin), methadone and morphine were detected in overdoses more often in Palm Beach County than anywhere else in the state. Because many overdoses involved more than one drug, it's unclear from state statistics exactly how many people died in the county or statewide of prescription drug overdoses. These local and state drug issues were the focus in Tallahassee June 7 when Gov. Jeb Bush hosted the state's annual daylong drug summit, an invitation-only event for law enforcement officials and experts in the drug treatment and prevention fields. After the summit, Bush called prescription drug abuse a greater problem than cocaine abuse because pain killers and other addictive prescription drugs are becoming easier to get, legally and illegally. But, Bush said, "You can't let up on cocaine use.... You have to hit it on all fronts," he said of the state's drug problems. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman