Pubdate: Thu, 06 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)

HEROIN DEATHS DOWN IN EASTERN IOWA

Heroin deaths, which had risen sharply in eastern Iowa in recent 
years, are down because of a multi-agency police task force, law 
enforcement officers said today.

Further, a dangerous combination of heroin and fentanyl, called "Drop 
Dead," has not yet appeared in eastern Iowa, drug officers said 
during a news conference in Cedar Rapids.

"Most of the heroin trade comes out of gangs from Chicago," said Rick 
LaMere, a federal Drug Enforcement Agency agent. "We have not seen 
fentanyl yet."

Heroin overdoses caused the deaths of 25 people in eastern Iowa in 
the last five years, U.S. Attorney Charles Larson Sr. said. But there 
have been no heroin deaths in the last five months, a decline he 
attributes to a task force started in August.

The U.S. Attorney's Office has prosecuted 20 people in the last year 
with heroin-related charges, Larson said.

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

Heroin today is far more potent than when it was first popular in the 
1960s and 1970s, LaMere said. The opiate, which costs about $300 for 
a half-ounce, can be snorted, which takes away the stigma of needles, he said.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman