Too-potent heroin blamed in 20 Lake Co. deaths

This is way to important ~ way to serious of an issue now ~
I apologize in advance without asking permission to post this article ~

Taken straight from Chicago Breaking News:
It's amazing how many comments in such a short time ~ more to this article found HERE!
Lake County authorities believe an unusually strong batch of heroin could be responsible for a recent spike in the number of heroin overdoses in the northern suburbs.

Coroner Richard Keller said he has asked the federal Drug Enforcement Administration to check the purity levels of heroin found in the possession of several overdose victims. Keller said he began noticing an increase in heroin overdoses in December, when eight people died from using the drug.

In January and February, the coroner's office recorded about six deaths each month from heroin overdoses. Normally, the office averages about three heroin overdoses each month.

"We're concerned there could be a more potent form of heroin out there than what people are used to," Keller said.

Article no longer found on internet!

Stevenson High School Lake County Coroner Speaks

I spoke with a group of 40 students at Stevenson High School yesterday. I told them about what the Coroner and his “Office” does (in some detail, I had an hour and 15 minutes). Who we are in our office and what we do (often a bit more than is done in other coroner offices). I answered a number of questions. We discussed causes of death, manners of death (natural, accident, suicide, homicide and undetermined), ways of identification, post-mortem entomology, all manners of stuff “coroner”.

It was a bit tricky because the instructors had already written the test questions based on my talks the last 2 years and I don’t talk from notes, so I can’t necessarily guaranty repetition of all the material from one year to the next. I was prompted to cover an entomology point by a question from one of the instructors, so I must have got the other material, thankfully for the test-takers.

Most importantly, at times hopefully cleverly and at times blatantly, I peppered my talk (as I always do) with tips and reminders useful in their forestalling death. Honest warnings about drugs, recommendations about making good choices and not taking chances.

Interesting, informative, cautionary, I do my best. Besides, as I told them, giving those types talks are my favorite part of the job.

What a great man~

Medication sharing can result in death

I grabbed this from Dr. Richard Keller, our Lake County Coroner ~
IMO - a need to know for passers by!

…roughly 23 percent reported loaning their prescription medications to someone else, and 27 percent reported borrowing prescription medications.

The medications most frequently shared (loaned or borrowed) were allergy drugs like Allegra (25 percent), followed by pain medications like Darvocet and OxyContin (22 percent); and antibiotics like amoxicillin (21 percent).

Seven percent of those interviewed said they shared mood-altering drugs like Paxil, Zoloft, Ritalin and Valium.
This certainly seems to agree with what we see in our cases of death due to licit drug intoxication or overdose, although certainly our death cases are more heavily weighted toward pain meds and “mood-alerting drugs”. This is a huge problem. People really don’t realize the danger in sharing, trading, and taking someone else’s meds. Just because they come from a drug store doesn’t mean they are always safe.