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Five heroin deaths in six weeks shake Camden County community
Mike Newall
Philadelphia Inquirer
3.13.11
Five funerals in six weeks - all heroin overdoses linked to a city that usually has that many in a single year.
Police say a "bad batch" of heroin has been extracting a deadly toll on Gloucester City, a tight-knit Camden County riverfront community.
The victims were mostly young, in their 20s and 30s. They were residents, or people with long ties to the community, who overdosed in the city or nearby.
...
Compounding the problem, Ross said, is that when some addicts hear of such a powerful drug, they seek it out.
"They want a great high," he said.
Gloucester City, a blue-collar community of rowhouses and Capes with a blend of longtime and new residents, has experienced a rise in drug abuse in recent years.
Heroin arrests are up, Berglund said. Dominating the police blotter are burglaries and domestic incidents, which police say are tied to drug abuse.
Camden County prosecutor's investigators have tracked the source of the drug to North Camden, said spokesman Jason Laughlin, who would not comment further on the investigation except to say: "We are in the midst of identifying its source and cutting it off."
The Prosecutor's Office is awaiting toxicology reports to determine whether the drug is either more pure than most street heroin or is mixed with lethal chemicals.
Countywide, the Prosecutor's Office is not aware of other fatal overdoses linked to the batch, Laughlin said. Philadelphia police, who keep a database of heroin stamps, said they had not seen this particular brand on their corners.
Though the cluster of deaths has hit Gloucester City hard, Laughlin said county investigators do not feel the heroin represents a "hot batch" of the drug. In 2006, heroin laced with the painkiller Fentanyl was responsible for about 100 deaths in New Jersey and Philadelphia. Then, Camden County averaged two or three heroin overdoses a week, sometimes with victims found lying next to each other, Laughlin said.
Now, the county averages one overdose a week, he said. "Sadly, this is not out of the ordinary," Laughlin said of the overdoses.
For Gloucester City, it is, Berglund said, adding:
"It's heartbreaking."
Link!
Mike Newall
Philadelphia Inquirer
3.13.11
Five funerals in six weeks - all heroin overdoses linked to a city that usually has that many in a single year.
Police say a "bad batch" of heroin has been extracting a deadly toll on Gloucester City, a tight-knit Camden County riverfront community.
The victims were mostly young, in their 20s and 30s. They were residents, or people with long ties to the community, who overdosed in the city or nearby.
...
Compounding the problem, Ross said, is that when some addicts hear of such a powerful drug, they seek it out.
"They want a great high," he said.
Gloucester City, a blue-collar community of rowhouses and Capes with a blend of longtime and new residents, has experienced a rise in drug abuse in recent years.
Heroin arrests are up, Berglund said. Dominating the police blotter are burglaries and domestic incidents, which police say are tied to drug abuse.
Camden County prosecutor's investigators have tracked the source of the drug to North Camden, said spokesman Jason Laughlin, who would not comment further on the investigation except to say: "We are in the midst of identifying its source and cutting it off."
The Prosecutor's Office is awaiting toxicology reports to determine whether the drug is either more pure than most street heroin or is mixed with lethal chemicals.
Countywide, the Prosecutor's Office is not aware of other fatal overdoses linked to the batch, Laughlin said. Philadelphia police, who keep a database of heroin stamps, said they had not seen this particular brand on their corners.
Though the cluster of deaths has hit Gloucester City hard, Laughlin said county investigators do not feel the heroin represents a "hot batch" of the drug. In 2006, heroin laced with the painkiller Fentanyl was responsible for about 100 deaths in New Jersey and Philadelphia. Then, Camden County averaged two or three heroin overdoses a week, sometimes with victims found lying next to each other, Laughlin said.
Now, the county averages one overdose a week, he said. "Sadly, this is not out of the ordinary," Laughlin said of the overdoses.
For Gloucester City, it is, Berglund said, adding:
"It's heartbreaking."
Link!
