KILLER HEROIN FEARED IN OVERDOSE DEATHS

[Alfa]

KILLER HEROIN FEARED IN OVERDOSE DEATHS


VANCOUVER -- Vancouver Police are warning drug users that a killer batch of heroin may be circulating after one of the worst weekends for fatal overdoses in years.


Although police will have to wait weeks for toxicology tests to know for sure, a sudden spike in overdose deaths, which otherwise have shown a consistent decline in the past decade, suggests either the drug is unusually potent or laced with a toxin, Constable Anne Drennan said yesterday.


"It's unusual to have three deaths in a weekend, and it raises a red flag,"


Constable Drennan said.


Within a 48-hour period on Saturday and Sunday, one 30-year-old man and one 30-year-old woman in the Downtown Eastside, as well as one man in his 20s in southeast Vancouver, all died, she said.


There was nothing in common in their situations besides heroin use, Constable Drennan said.


"We're putting out a warning that the possibility is that the heroin on the streets is bad," she said. "Consider, if you can, going to the safe injection site for assistance when anything is wrong."


Ann Livingston of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users says addicts she knows have been aware of more potent heroin for about 10 weeks.


"We've been losing three or four members of VANDU a week for the past weeks," she said. "It's a tragedy.


"One of the real horrors about this is that once the word gets out in the papers that the heroin is pure, it acts like an advertisement for pure heroin. Sometimes it can cause a lot more people to use it. It's like marketing."


Cocaine's price is rising while heroin is getting cheaper and more pure, and these factors may be a darkly capitalistic scheme to recruit addicts, she said.


"When the price goes down, they get more addicts," she said. "Whoever's doing this is going to make a huge profit because they are going to have a lot more customers.


"When the price goes up, [the addicts] all have to go on methadone, and they see a lot more desperation."


About 650 injections a day take place at Vancouver's safe-injection site, and the city has about 5,000 addicts who inject about three times a day, she said.


Viviana Zanocco of Vancouver Coastal Health, which administers the safe-injection site on East Hastings Street, said it is illegal for staff at the site to test heroin for safety.


But, having someone nearby vastly increases the chance a person who has taken an overdose will survive, she said. Staff have medical equipment to administer oxygen and narcan, which blocks opiates in the body and can save a life.


The B.C. Coroner's Service has tracked illicit drug deaths in the province since 1997. There were 64 deaths last year, up from 50 in 2003, but down from a high of 191 deaths in 1999.


It's unlikely the three who died got their drugs from the same dealer, Constable Drennan said.

[icecrew]

sounds pretty crazy, thats why SWIM doesnt like that street use...hes gonna filter the shit outa anythin he gets from now on

[Alfa]

Source: Province, The (CN BC)


POLICE NEED HELP TO TRACK DEADLY HEROIN


Frustrated police are once again pleading for help from addicts to trace the source of a suspected bad batch of heroin that has killed eight addicts in eight days.


A man whose body was found in a Downtown Eastside rooming house Friday is believed to be the most recent fatal overdose in a string that began Aug.


19. The man died sometime in mid-week.


So far, six of the eight victims have perished in the Downtown Eastside area. All were intravenous heroin users.


Police are concerned the number of dead may rise after this weekend because it's the weekend after Welfare Wednesday and overdose numbers typically spike at such times.


"The addicts have to be careful," said Insp. John McKay of the citywide drug enforcement team. "Whatever's being done out there isn't good."


Exactly what killed the eight won't be known until toxicology reports are completed sometime in the next two weeks. McKay said he suspects it's an amount of heroin poorly mixed with a dilutant, leaving some quantities relatively weak and others lethally strong.


McKay said it's unlikely whoever is selling the substance is intentionally killing off users. Organized crime rings have been known to "hot cap"


victims -- give them ultra-pure heroin with the intent of killing them.


Police are asking addicts to call CrimeStoppers anonymously at


1-800-222-8477 if they have any information about who might have sold the dangerous opiate. Officers are also advising users to buy their drugs only from a known, and if possible, trusted source.

[icecrew]

thats why its good to test out the shit 1st b4 smakin like 2 bags at a time

[MrJim]

Where this is happening in Van is the worst neighborhood. Theseare the people who have just about no reason left to live other than theirnext hits. Prostitution is one of the only employers of these people and the people look wasted. I am not stereotyping here. Take a look in Pigeon park for someone who looks like you could sit down at a restaurant with them. There will be noone. Back in the day SWIMwas a teenager amongst them. It's freaky because he can remember when the police would hand out flyers with warnings about this kind of thing and people would get reallly stoked that stuff that strong is out there. Some of these blocks have Aids rates that rival Africa - one poll has shown 40 % HIV and Hepatitis was something around 70 % --I can't remember right now, I'll see if I can track down the numbers.


Long story short - The addicts aren't going to help track down the "bad batch" - they want it for themselves. It is a very sad place.Edited by: MrJim

[Muirner]

hey at least in canada they are telling you to be safe when u buy your drugs. Unlike the us.


When it was talking about the safe injection places, how do they get their H? Or does the addict bring it, and someone shoots them?


Muirner

[MrJim]

Thesafe site is like a library carol that is covered in stainless steel so they can wipe down between users. The people who work at the safe sites can't give them H, test it, or inject it for them. They are just there to watch over, and maybe bring you some water.


Here I think it is OK to give a link to their website (if not mods, you know what to do). There used to be Safe sites that were technically illegal, but not enforced. Now it's government funded.


http://www.vch.ca/sis/

[fletch]

was just watching a program about vancouver and its dope problem, "an addicted city" excellent watch. anyway ive been to the neighbourhood which has been spoken of and it is really depressing. im not in any way trying to steryotype, bash, or put anyone down, but the people that live in such an area can only be classified as "sketch-bags" completely gone. everyone is running around poking needles in eachother or themselves and babbling on wondering mindlessly around the streets. its really sad and a real eye opener, but hey everyone lives their own life, some just need a little help along the way, while others take such help and still find themselves lost. all in all at least law enforcment and health agencies recognize that these people need assistance rather than simply being rid of.

[Alfa]

KILLER SMACK CLAIMS NINE


A batch of "hot heroin" has claimed another life in Vancouver.


A 41-year-old woman became the ninth person to inject a lethal dose since police first issued a warning almost two weeks ago.


VPD Const. Howard Chow says police still don't know the extent of the deadly problem.


"We don't know if this is the start of this, the end of it, if there's a whole lot of product out there and people are going to get killed off," Chow told reporters yesterday.


One theory is that the deadly batch is actually methadone being passed off as heroin after a pharmacy in the Downtown Eastside was robbed earlier this month.


Methadone is a synthetic drug most commonly used orally to wean addicts off heroin.


Chow says people wouldn't be able to tell the difference if they received methadone instead of heroin.


"It's risky business," Chow said. "Any illicit street drug you buy doesn't come with a money back guarantee from the dealers."


If caught, it's possible whoever is responsible for producing or distributing the lethal heroin doses will face extra charges relating to the nine deaths.

[newposts]

If you are going to do a narcotic might as wll be a pharmaceutical like oc,diluadid, or something.Standardized dose, most likely helping the local economy rather than some overseas cartel,etc.

At least with a pill you can easily know what the amount of actives present and the potential effect will be. Maybe they should make heroin prescribeable for addicts; reduce crime, reduce the criminal element, and standard dosing would eliminate overdose deaths as described above.

ranting..