Parents who have kids using herion......PAY ATTENTION

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37319358/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts

THERE IS SOMETHING YOU CAN DO BEFORE YOUR LOVED ONE DIES.....Call 866-888-4911 if you think your son or daughter is using....Read below to find out just how dangerous using can be. Death does not have to be the rock bottom. Intervention can save their life.


By ALICIA A. CALDWELL, JIM SALTER
Associated Press Writers

updated 11:39 a.m. PT, Mon., May 24, 2010
WINFIELD, Mo. - Mexican drug smugglers are increasingly peddling a form of ultra-potent heroin that sells for as little as $10 a bag and is so pure it can kill unsuspecting users instantly, sometimes before they even remove the syringe from their veins.

An Associated Press review of drug overdose data shows that so-called "black tar" heroin — named for its dark, gooey consistency — and other forms of the drug are contributing to a spike in overdose deaths across the nation and attracting a new generation of users who are caught off guard by its potency.

"We found people who snorted it lying face-down with the straw lying next to them," said Patrick O'Neil, coroner in suburban Chicago's Will County, where annual heroin deaths have nearly tripled — from 10 to 29 — since 2006. "It's so potent that we occasionally find the needle in the arm at the death scene."
Authorities are concerned that the potency and price of the heroin from Mexico and Colombia could widen the drug's appeal, just as crack did for cocaine decades ago.

The Latin American heroin comes in the form of black tar or brown powder, and it has proven especially popular in rural and suburban areas.

Originally associated with rock stars, hippies and inner-city junkies, heroin in the 1970s was usually smuggled from Asia and the Middle East and was around 5 percent pure. The rest was "filler" such as sugar, starch, powdered milk, even brick dust. The low potency meant that many users injected the drug to maximize the effect.

But in recent years, Mexican drug dealers have improved the way they process poppies, the brightly colored flowers supplied by drug farmers that provide the raw ingredients for heroin, opium and painkillers such as morphine. Purity levels have increased, and prices have fallen.

'Different group of users'
Federal agents now commonly find heroin that is 50 percent pure and sometimes as much as 80 percent pure.

The greater potency allows more heroin users to snort the drug or smoke it and still achieve a sustained high — an attractive alternative for teenagers and suburbanites who don't want the HIV risk or the track marks on their arms that come with repeated injections.

"That has opened up heroin to a whole different group of users," said Harry Sommers, the agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Agency office in St. Louis.

Among the drug's casualties was William Henderson, a 29-year-old welder from rural Missouri who died in his sleep in 2009, hours after snorting heroin. A bear of a man at 6-foot-1 and 300 pounds, he had tried the drug only a few times.

His wife recalled waking up to find the alarm buzzing. Her husband's body had turned blue, and his stomach was cold to the touch.

"I kept telling him, 'Will, you're late — get up!" said Amanda Henderson of Winfield, Mo., northwest of St. Louis. "But he wasn't moving, wasn't breathing. I called 911, but I knew it was too late." She and her three small boys were left destitute.

An increasing amount of the deadliest heroin appears to be coming from Mexico. Although the vast majority still arrives from overseas, Mexican dealers appear to be chipping away at the U.S. market.

As recently as two years ago, state and federal drug agents saw heroin arriving from Colombia, Asia and Mexico. But as the availability and quality of cocaine and methamphetamine have declined, Mexican smugglers have stepped up heroin shipments to the U.S.

Overdose deaths rise
Independent Mexican smugglers have the market largely to themselves because the major drug cartels only dabble in heroin, preferring to focus on locally grown marijuana and Colombian cocaine, according to a DEA official in El Paso, Texas. The agent spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing security concerns and his ongoing role in active drug investigations.

Heroin metabolizes in the body so quickly that medical examiners often cannot pinpoint the drug as a cause of death unless there is other evidence to back it up — say, a needle or a syringe found near the body. Also, many victims use multiple drugs and alcohol, so citing a specific substance is often impossible.

In The News: Suboxone Played Role in Wisconsin Death of Teen

Apr. 1, 2009--Investigators suspect that a lethal combination of alcohol and a prescription drug -- Suboxone -- likely played a role in the death of a 19-year-old freshman found dead Monday in a dorm suite at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, according to a university official and a Milwaukee County medical examiner's report.

Suboxone is the same drug that may have been taken by Whitefish Bay teen Madison Kiefer, who died March 1. It is used to treat heroin addiction.

Two UWM students -- a man and woman -- have been arrested in connection with the death of Luke David Murphy of New London, whose girlfriend found him unresponsive in her dorm room Monday morning, according to university spokesman Tom Luljak and the medical examiner's report.

Both students were arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, Luljak said.

The man who was arrested was in custody Tuesday night at the Milwaukee County Jail, according to jail records. The woman was released by UWM police Tuesday but ordered to meet with the district attorney's office, Luljak said.

The students also could face discipline from the university, Luljak said.

Murphy's death follows the Feb. 21 death of Ali MarieRaddatz, also a UWM freshman, who died after consuming alcohol and prescription drugs at an off-campus party.

Murphy's cause of death will not be known until the results of a toxicology report are received in the coming weeks, Luljak said. Murphy's family couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday.

According to the medical examiner's report regarding Murphy's death:

Murphy's girlfriend told investigators that Murphy watched basketball and drank alcohol at a friend's house on Sunday.

She told investigators that Murphy took pills while at the house. Investigators believe he may have taken Suboxone.

The report says Murphy received a text message Sunday night that said, "How crazy do you feel?"

Murphy's girlfriend told investigators he seemed high when he arrived Sunday night at her room in Sandburg Hall. He brought a bottle of beer, a half-bottle of juice and a bottle of vodka that was about one-eighth full, the report says.

Murphy's girlfriend told investigators he didn't seem completely intoxicated, but she said he was "intoxicated, tired and slow acting."

Murphy passed out in her bed and began "snoring loud, like he was somewhat gasping for air," she told investigators. Murphy often snored, but his girlfriend said she was concerned because he was also drooling.

Murphy's girlfriend found him unresponsive about 5:15 a.m. Paramedics were called, but Murphy was pronounced dead at 6:17 a.m., according to the medical examiner's report.

Luljak said administrators have been in constant communication with employees at the university health center, and administrators are meeting "to discuss how we can communicate the tremendous risks that are present when people abuse alcohol and drugs."

"This is an enormous tragedy and one that the university administration takes very, very seriously," Luljak said.

Particularly concerning to officials is information from the campus' health and wellness center suggesting that employees have seen an increasing number of freshman students arriving at the school with drug and alcohol issues, Luljak said.

"I think it is a reflection of what's happening in the high schools and even in the junior high schools around the state," he said. "It is a problem that does not begin when students come to college. Sadly, many of them have been experimenting with drugs and alcohol before they arrive."

Prescription drug abuse has increased on college campuses across the country in recent years, but UWM officials have not seen a spike in Suboxone abuse, said Paul Dupont, a clinical psychologist and counseling director at the university's Norris Health Center.

"Many students, whether it's high school students or college students, view (prescription drugs) as safer than illegal drugs because these are prescribed. In some students' minds, they can't be that dangerous."

But prescription drug abuse is extremely dangerous, especially when the drugs are combined with alcohol, Dupont said.

"When you mix alcohol and narcotics or tranquilizers, they multiply each other's effects, thereby dramatically increasing the risk of overdose," Dupont said.

Suboxone, a narcotic, has been prescribed with increasing frequency, increasing the potential for abuse, said Carlyle Chan, a professor of psychiatry at the Medical College of Wisconsin.