There's a quiet killer in Utah you may not know about. It kills more people than auto accidents. The number of deaths skyrocketed in eight years, and what's more, no one is really sure why.
News Specialist Karen Scullin has this special report.
People dying of heroine overdoses are not unusual. Heroin users can be anyone...the rich, the poor, the hardworking. And now, we're learning they're dying at a higher rate than ever before.
Heroin users aren't just the homeless.
They're fathers, husbands, and
high school football stars.
Lt. Dave Caron/Springville Police Dept./August 1999: "Didn't fit what we would consider the profile of someone we'd consider would experiment with drugs."
And many of them are dying.
In Utah, in 1991, there were 20 deaths due to overdose by illegal drugs. In 1998, 130. That number continues to rise.
For some reason, Utah has one of the highest rates of heroin overdoses in the nation--significantly above the national average.
Dr. Bob Rolfs/Ut. Dept. of Public Health: "It's six times what it was seven or eight years ago."
Contrary to general belief, most victims are men 25 to 49 years of age, most victims are white, had at least a high school education, and most overdose deaths involved heroin often in combination with cocaine.
Dr. Rolfs: "It seems like there's two basic reasons this could be happening. One is if there are more people using drugs. Two, if using drugs is becoming more dangerous."
Luciano Colonna heads up Utah's Harm Prevention Coalition.
He says there are approximately 6,600 intravenous drug users in Utah.
Most are not the sterotypical street person. Many hold down regular jobs, make decent incomes, have families who depend on them.
Overdoses are happening in virtually every Utah neighborhood.
But The Harm Prevention Coalition is out to help. It's a new state, county, and city funded organization that
works with drug addicts.
Luciano Colonna/Ut. Harm Reduction Coalition: "Our mission is to reduce harm that's associated with marginalized behavior. Drug use and we also work with prostitutes."
Harm Reduction is non-judgemental and teaches those who use illegal drugs
how to be as healthy as possible while addicted.
Luciano Colonna: Keeping them safe as possible so that in the event that they get clean, they're not HIV positive, they're not Hepatitis B and C positive."
And so they and they're friends who use don't kill themselves by overdose,
and what to do if they're with someone who is showing the signs of o.d.
Luciano Colonna: "Most people who overdose from heroin don't die immediately. They're alive between one and three hours longer. So that's time to call 911, begin rescue breathing, begin CPR."
Not an easy task...it can be very difficult to convince a drug user to call 911 when someone is overdosing.
Luciano Colonna: "The users themselves think the reason so many people are dying is that people aren't calling 911 for fear of arrest."
But by educating drug users of the rising death toll, Colonna hopes users will risk arrest to save a life.
On average, two people overdose and die every week from illegal drugs. Colonna says the Harm Prevention Coalition is getting a lot of support as it tries to help change the trend.
