Pubdate: Fri, 07 Jul 2006
Source: Des Moines Register (IA)
Copyright: 2006 The Des Moines Register.
Contact:  http://desmoinesregister.com/index.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/123
Author: Erin Jordan, Register Iowa City Bureau
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

OFFICERS SAY TASK FORCE CUT HEROIN DEATHS

There Have Been No Fatalities Tied To The Drug In The Past Five Months

Cedar Rapids, Ia. -- Heroin deaths, which had skyrocketed in eastern 
Iowa in recent years, are down because of a multi-agency police task 
force, law enforcement officers said Thursday.

Heroin overdoses caused the deaths of 25 people in eastern Iowa in 
the last five years, U.S. Attorney Charles Larson Sr. said at a news 
conference in Cedar Rapids. There have been no heroin deaths in 
eastern Iowa in the last five months, a decline he attributed to a 
task force formed in August.

"It does disrupt a network that is bringing those drugs in," Larson said.

The Des Moines Register reported in February that of 24 
heroin-related deaths in Iowa, 20 were in eastern Iowa.

The U.S. attorney's office has prosecuted 20 people in the last year 
on heroin-related charges, Larson said. Among them are a 17-year-old 
boy in Cedar Rapids who bragged about selling high-potency heroin 
that caused the death of one person and the near-death of another.

The new heroin is up to 90 percent pure, a big change from the 1960s 
and 1970s, said Rick LaMere, a federal Drug Enforcement Agency agent. 
The opiate, which costs about $300 for a half-ounce, can be snorted, 
which takes away the stigma of needles, he said.

The increased purity has caused more overdoses, said Linn County 
Medical Examiner Don Linder.

"With a single use, you may not be addicted," he said. "But with the 
high purity, it could kill you."

Iowa drug officers turned their attention to heroin when 
methamphetamine seizures dropped following Iowa's 2005 law limiting 
the sales of pseudoephedrine, said Ken Carter, director of the Iowa 
Division of Narcotics Enforcement.

[Sidebar]

No "Drop Dead" Yet

A dangerous combination of heroin and fentanyl, a narcotic, has not 
yet appeared in Iowa, law enforcement officers said Thursday. The 
drug combination, known as "Drop Dead," has caused a number of 
overdoses in Chicago, the source of most drugs in Eastern Iowa, the 
officers said. 
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman