http://www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/39578742.html

2 charged in Waukesha methadone overdose death

Posted: Feb. 13, 2009

Waukesha - Homicide charges were filed Friday against two people in a methadone overdose death in October of a 46-year-old Waukesha woman.

Nina E. Pudil, 34, of Waukesha is accused of selling liquid methadone to the victim, Nola K. Heinowski, according to a criminal complaint filed in Waukesha County Circuit Court.

Aaron B. Schmoller, 29, of Waukesha is accused of obtaining the methadone from a clinic where he was being treated and selling it to Pudil.

Heinowski was found dead in her Elizabeth St. residence Oct. 15 after authorities received an anonymous 911 call to check on her. Detectives later learned that Pudil discovered Heinowski's body and went with a man to a pay phone, where the man dialed 911, the criminal complaint says.

Pudil and Schmoller each were charged with first-degree reckless homicide. If convicted, they face up to 25 years in prison and 15 years of extended supervision. During separate court appearances, Commissioner Thomas J. Pieper ordered them held in lieu of $100,000.

The charges come as methadone-related deaths have been on the rise in the last several years, Waukesha County Deputy Medical Examiner Kris Klenz said.

The prescription drug is given to patients to aid them in overcoming a heroin addiction and is considered safe when administered by a licensed professional. It's also used to treat pain.

In 2007 and 2008, methadone-related deaths accounted for about 25% of all overdose deaths in Waukesha County, Klenz said.

According to the criminal complaint, Schmoller told authorities he was in the methadone program at Quality Addiction Management in Waukesha from summer 2005 to November 2008.

He received liquid doses to take home, and at some point he decided he didn't like being on methadone, the complaint says. Schmoller told authorities he began using only a portion of the methadone for himself and saved the rest, which he started selling in August after losing his job, according to the complaint.

Pudil admitted to authorities that she purchased methadone from Schmoller and sold some of it to Heinowski 10 to 15 times, the complaint says. This would imply a tolerance to the methadone but I cannot find the original article to know whether other drugs were involved. I am guessing they were but by the time the murder charges are brought any other substances have long been forgotten.

Original Story...

http://gazettextra.com/news/2008/jul/17/woman-stand-trial-homicide-case-stemming-drug-over/

Bobbie Jean Joecks

Woman to stand trial in homicide case stemming from drug overdose

ELKHORN — A former East Troy woman charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the death of a man who fatally overdosed on methadone will stand trial in October.

Bobbie Jean Joecks, 37, is accused of providing the methadone that killed Jason R. Bodart, 32, on March 26, 2006, according to the criminal complaint.

Attorneys on both sides agreed to begin her three-day jury trial Oct. 6.

Joecks’ attorney, Joshua Klaff, asked the judge to set a status hearing before the trial. The hearing will be Sept. 5.

Joecks appeared in Walworth County Court Wednesday by telephone from Taycheedah Correctional Institution, a women’s prison in Fond du Lac.

She is serving a one-year prison sentence after violating the probation on her 2007 conviction in Waukesha County for obtaining a controlled substance by fraud.

According to the complaint in the reckless homicide case, a surveillance video from Double D's Tavern in East Troy Township showed Joecks placing a large pill in front of Bodart, who swallowed it with a drink.

A witness confirmed what the camera captured, the complaint stated.

The witness told investigators Joecks offered both he and Bodart methadone, a drug often used to treat heroin addiction, according to the complaint.

The witness refused, but Bodart consumed the pill, the complaint states.

Joecks told Bodart that she usually breaks the pills into quarters and that "she couldn't believe Bodart took the whole thing," according to the complaint.

Bodart died in his East Troy Township home of respiratory failure, according to the complaint.

An autopsy revealed that Bodart had a toxic level of methadone in his body.

Joecks denied giving methadone to Bodart, according to the complaint.

She also said she never saw Bodart take methadone, the complaint states.

Prosecutors are allowed to charge reckless homicide against people suspected of providing drugs that cause death by overdose.

A $50,000 bail has been set in Joecks’ case.

She also is charged with felony bail jumping.

Sentencing...

http://gazettextra.com/news/2009/feb/12/east-troy-woman-gets-five-years-fatal-overdose-cas/

East Troy woman gets five years in fatal overdose case

ELKHORN — Bobbie Jean Joecks said she never intended for her friend to die—especially at the hands of her drug addiction.

"His death will be with me for the rest of my life," she is quoted as saying in a pre-sentence investigation presented in court Wednesday. "It has scarred me because in my heart of hearts I know methadone played a part in his death."

Walworth County Judge James Carlson sentenced Joecks, 37, formerly of East Troy, to five years in prison and 10 years extended supervision for providing the methadone that killed 32-year-old Jason Bodart of East Troy in March 2006.

Joecks pleaded guilty Dec. 8 to first-degree reckless homicide after surveillance video from Double D's Tavern in East Troy Township showed her placing a large pill in front of Bodart, who swallowed it with a drink.

A felony bail jumping charge was dismissed.

Michelle Johnston, who spoke in court Tuesday via telephone from New Jersey, described her family's pain since her brother died and asked that Joecks be sentenced to substantial time behind bars.

"She is no stranger to breaking the law, and if my brother would not have crossed paths with her on that fateful day, he never would have died," she said. "She has broken our family forever."

District Attorney Phil Koss said that while Joecks originally had a legitimate prescription for methadone after suffering a back injury at work, she later abused it by fraudulently obtaining refills.

Koss said Joecks' record demonstrated the need for prison.

"Probation has not worked," he said. "She had the chance. ...But while she's out on bond for a serious charge ...she's out stealing and using cocaine. It shows she doesn't take this seriously."

Defense attorney Joshua Klaff said Joecks racked up a criminal record simply to feed her drug habit.

"There was never the intent, never the motive to hurt anybody," he said. "She was a friend who made a horrific mistake."

Klaff acknowledged homicide is serious, but he asked for a sentence that would allow Joecks to get treatment for her drug addiction and return home to her husband and four children.

Jessica Joecks, 18, said the family needs her mother at home.

"She has been gone for more than a year already, but it seems like just yesterday she was coming into our room at night to give us kisses," she said. "Every day it gets harder and harder without her at home."

Before the sentencing hearing began, Joecks asked to withdraw her guilty plea, saying a lawyer interested in taking her case contacted her husband Tuesday.

Gregg Joecks could provide neither the name nor the telephone number of the attorney; "All he told me was to withdraw the plea," he said.

Carlson proceeded with sentencing but said Joecks later could file a motion to withdraw her plea.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/399760_kerlikowske12.html

Kerlikowske seen as a progressive

Advocates of reforms are 'cautiously optimistic' about him as 'drug czar'

By VANESSA HO AND SCOTT GUTIERREZ
P-I REPORTERS

Gil Kerlikowske remained silent for a second day on his appointment as the nation's drug czar, but his track record in Seattle -- a city known for its progressive drug stances -- offered a hint at how the Obama administration might wage the drug war.

No official word came from the White House on Wednesday on Kerlikowske, who, if confirmed by the Senate, could become the new director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

A source in Washington, D.C., confirmed that Kerlikowske had been chosen for the post, but that paperwork making the nomination official had not yet been filed.

Many people, including those traditionally at odds with government policies, were "cautiously optimistic" about Kerlikowske, who became police chief in 2000.

"He's likely to be the best drug czar we've seen, but that's not saying much," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a national nonprofit group focused on changing drug policies.

Nadelmann called Kerlikowske, 59, a "blank slate" because of his notable absence in drug-policy debates. But he was encouraged by the chief's ability to thrive in a city famous for its drug courts, needle exchanges, methadone vans and annual Hempfest celebration.

"At least we know that when we talk about needle exchanges and decriminalizing marijuana arrests, it's not going to be the first time he's heard about them," he said.

Many local people expected that Kerlikowske would be chosen for a federal post, but were surprised by this appointment, saying he rarely speaks on drug enforcement, unlike his platforms on gun control and community policing.

But last fall, they said, Kerlikowske began working on drug-policy reforms for street users in certain neighborhoods.

He recently gave his blessing to a pilot program in drug-plagued Belltown for officers to send drug users to treatment or job centers instead of jail. He gave his support to similar programs already operating in Rainier Beach and Madison Valley.

"I would imagine that being a chief law-enforcement officer makes it very difficult for someone to speak out in favor of more-progressive drug laws and drug policies," Alison Holcomb, the drug policy director for the ACLU of Washington, said.

"I also think his actions speak louder than words."

One of those actions is Kerlikowske's participation on an executive committee that oversees King County Drug Court, which dismisses charges against a defendant who completes treatment. The chief has also dedicated an officer full time to work on drug court cases.

A 1998 state law allows debilitated and terminally ill patients to use medical marijuana, but gives police departments wide latitude in whether to make an arrest.

Despite that, Holcomb said Kerlikowske's officers have "demonstrated compassion" in not arresting known growers and users in medical marijuana cases.

She also said his officers are respectful and tolerant when they patrol Hempfest, the city's annual celebration of drug-law reforms.

Seattle City Councilman Nick Licata, a former chairman of the Public Safety Committee, said Kerlikowske would be an ideal drug czar.

"He is sort of a logical choice because he's someone who has been a police chief in a very progressive city, and he has seen how these approaches worked, and he's allowed them to mature," Licata said.

He added: "He's not on a platform arguing for decriminalization of drugs or radical drug reform measures."

Treatment advocates praised Kerlikowske for setting a respectful tone emulated by the rank and file toward the city's many innovative services for addicts, from needle exchanges to methadone vans to the 1811 Eastlake project, a home for chronic alcoholics that allows drinking in rooms.

In 2003, the chief had initially opposed Initiative 75, a measure approved by Seattle voters that made enforcement of marijuana for adult personal use the lowest priority for police and city attorneys. But activists say he has since ordered his officers to implement the law.

"If it's all accurate ... he will bring a reasoned, rational and very articulate voice to our nation's drug policy debate," said City Councilman Tim Burgess, chairman of the Public Safety Committee.

"I think this is a good fit for him. It puts him squarely in the center of policy development and the analytics of law enforcement."

Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper, now an ardent advocate of drug-law reforms, said Kerlikowske was likely picked less for his record on drug enforcement than for his intellect and national reputation.

"He's more inclined to support research-driven and evidence-based conclusions about public policy," Stamper said.

A 36-year police veteran, Kerlikowske had previously served as a deputy director of the Justice Department in the Clinton administration.

He has worked with two other Obama Cabinet picks, Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

Kerlikowske would assume a post held by John Walters in the Bush administration.

http://www.winonadailynews.com/articles/2009/02/11/news/01drugs.txt

Police: Drugs sold at apartment a month before overdose death

Police suspected a Winona man of selling methadone a month before he provided drugs to a woman who died of an overdose, court documents say.

Authorities did not arrest Harold Albert Skroch Jr., 44, after an informant bought drugs Jan. 8, 2008, in his apartment, police said. About a month later, he gave methadone to Jane Jay Christensen, 45, who died of an overdose Feb. 4, 2008, according to court documents.
Police referred Skroch to the county attorney’s office for charges in the January sale, but prosecutors declined to file charges. Nearly a year passed before police arrested Skroch in relation to Christensen’s death. He was charged last month with third-degree murder and is scheduled to appear in court in April.

Officials said determining when to make an arrest or file charges in a drug-sale situation is made on a case-by-case basis. Skroch was allowed to remain free for nearly a year because police were building other cases closely linked to his, said a narcotics investigator with knowledge of the investigations.

Even if police would have arrested Skroch following the January sale that took Christensen’s life, Winona Police Deputy Chief Tom Williams said she still may have been able to obtain the drugs that killed her from someone else.If the deputy chief realizes if she had not bought the methadone from him she would have got it from someone else how can they charge him with this?

A police informant bought methadone Jan. 8 for $60 from Kathryn Sue Hanville, 51, who lived with Skroch at 152 Mankato Ave., court documents show. The informant intended to buy the drug from Skroch, but he was in another room and told Hanville to complete the transaction, according to a criminal complaint.

Hanville was later charged and has been summoned to appear in court Feb. 24. Assistant Winona County Attorney Kevin O’Laughlin declined to say why Skroch was not charged in the sale.

Some drug cases are allowed to become “prolonged,” Williams said, so police can conduct multiple controlled buys to strengthen a case and help protect an informant who may be buying drugs from several sources.I believe this is a copout they are using to CTA.

http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/s/2044570_man_gave_pal_fatal_dose_of_methadone

Comments in red are my own and not part of the original article.

Man gave pal fatal dose of methadone

By Natalie Slater
February 09, 2009
Lawrence Palmer admitted a charge of supplying a class A drug.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-02-09-opioids-narcotics_N.htm

FDA targets narcotic use

"This is a very extensively used group of medications," said John Jenkins, director of the FDA's Office of New Drugs. In 2007, he said, U.S. pharmacies dispensed 21 million prescriptions for the 24 opioid products, used by 3.7 million Americans.

Despite label warnings and collaborations between the FDA and other federal agencies, misuse, abuse and accidental overdoses of the products have grown over the past decade, he said. The FDA is concerned about doctors prescribing the drugs inappropriately, to patients who don't have moderate to severe chronic pain, Jenkins said. For example, "we continue to see case reports where someone with a sprained ankle receives a fetanyl patch or extended-release opioid," which, when chewed instead of swallowed whole, releases a large dose.

In addition, non-medical use by adults is rising. Data released Monday by the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration showed that non-medical use of prescription painkillers in Americans 18-25 rose from 4.1% in 2002 to 4.6% in 2007. Over that same period, non-medical use rose to 1.6% from 1.3% in Americans 26 and older.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/special-reports/2009/02/09/ddn020909heroininside.html

Treatment choices limited to daily doses at clinic

From behind secure glass and a barred door, nurse Linda Bostick gives Project Cure client James Lilly his daily methadone dose A woman receives her methadone dosage through a window at Project CureCarl Moyer of Miamisburg, a recovering heroin addict, credits Project Cure with saving his life. 

DAYTON — Three buckets catch raindrops dive-bombing through a leaky pipe in a ceiling at the Project Cure methadone clinic in Dayton.

In the clinic's narrow hallway, staff members walk sideways to avoid colliding with the line of patients waiting their turn at the dosing window.

The obsolete building at 1800 N. James H. McGee Blvd. bulges with desks, file cabinets, medical supplies and staff who fiercely protect their clients.

It's a big operation in a small building.

Administrators want to move into a larger, more modern facility, but finding a neighborhood willing to welcome a center for hundreds of recovering opiate addicts hasn't been easy.

"So far, we haven't turned anyone away, but we're running out of space," said Denise Walder, Project Cure's clinical outpatient supervisor. "We've outgrown this building."

So it goes with heroin treatment these days. The number of young people getting hooked on heroin is up, and so too is the number of those wanting to get off it.

Between 1992 and 2007, patients treated for heroin abuse in Ohio multiplied five times, to more than 7,000 a year.

Treatment centers like Project Cure are feeling the pinch. Project Cure served just 50 patients a day as late as the 1980s. In the summer of 2008, just under 500 clients received daily doses of methadone at the Dayton clinic — an increase of about 140 a day over 2007. By January, the number had jumped to nearly 700 a day.

"The increase has been very quick, very noticeable," Executive Director William Holly said. "We're searching for the reason."

What addicts seek: immediate relief from dope sickness and the intense craving for heroin.

What they find: few options, long lines and waiting lists.

The good news is that while heroin has made a comeback, the addiction can be treated. Unfortunately, the choices for recovering addicts are largely dictated by where they live.

"That's a problem. Whatever your county has, you're stuck with," said Dr. Eugene Somoza, a psychiatry professor at the University of Cincinnati and director of the Cincinnati Addiction Research Center.

Along with the VA, Project Cure is the only publicly funded methadone maintenance center in the Miami Valley.

Nationally, the number of heroin addicts is estimated at 900,000, but only about a fifth make it to treatment. More than 4,000 each year die from heroin-related illnesses: overdoses, HIV, hepatitis C.

Intense vomiting, diarrhea, panic attacks and chills often accompany withdrawal.

It's like the flu, but worse.

"Addiction is a chemical change that occurs in the brain," said Angela Cornelius, director of the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services, in budget testimony before the Ohio General Assembly. "Addiction isn't about bad choices. Once addiction takes over, the individual can no longer make responsible choices. Addiction controls that person's actions."

The granddaddy for treating that addiction is methadone, although it has its critics. Montgomery County Drug Court Judge Mary Katherine Huffman advocates drug-free therapy: counseling, programs such as Narcotics Anonymous and a no-excuse policy of abstinence.

Methadone clinics push those treatments, too. But addiction specialists say the odds for recovery improve with drugs such as methadone and — the new kids on the block — Subutex and Suboxone.

One is tried and true. Methadone was pioneered in Nazi Germany as a pain medicine. Subutex and Suboxone were only approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2002.

Both treatments stop the withdrawal symptoms and eliminate cravings.

Both have drawbacks.

But without question, both also save lives.

Tired of the hustle

Each weekday, buses, cars and even stretchers bring opiate addicts to the Project Cure clinic in Dayton. They're here to drink a red liquid from a paper cup: their daily dose of methadone.

Some have traveled miles to get here.

And, of course, for some it's taken years.

For 35-year-old Carl Moyer of Miamisburg, it wasn't the 2½ years in a Florida prison cell, the thefts from his father's auto parts shop, or the estrangement from his children that sent him to Project Cure.

It wasn't even the time he found himself in a bathtub at a friend's house in Miamisburg, weighing 98 pounds and dope-sick from heroin withdrawal, trying to rip off the plastic casing on a razor with his teeth.

Moyer sliced his mouth in a desperate attempt to get at the metal edge. When the blade finally shook free, he slid it across one wrist, then the other, again and again.

"I was watching the water turn red," he said. "I was thinking about how my life used to be."

Outside the bathroom, friends pounded on the locked door. They believed Moyer had heroin and wasn't sharing.

"They kicked the door in," Moyer said. "They were mad because I was bleeding in their bathroom."

Instead of calling paramedics, the friends helped Moyer dress, escorted him to a nearby alley and abandoned him. Once they cleared the scene, they called 911 and told police where to find Moyer.

"My whole body was tingling," Moyer said. "I knew I wasn't far from death."

Moyer survived, spent years living from one heroin injection to the next before, in his words, he "got tired of the hustle."

That fatigue brought him, more than two decades after his mother first introduced him to marijuana, to the doorstep of Project Cure, the clinic that the late Dr. Ahmad Zafr founded in 1971 for recovering addicts like himself.

Project Cure

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the use of methadone to treat heroin addiction in the United States, and it remains the most widely used treatment for opiate addiction.

Methadone works by suppressing the intense cravings of narcotic withdrawal for up to 36 hours. It also blocks the high if heroin is used.

"It really stabilizes people," said UC's Somoza.

Some patients stay on methadone for more than a decade, and even for the rest of their lives. Project Cure has at least one patient who has been in treatment since the 1980s, Walder said.

The weaning process is done on an individual basis. Federal regulations require yearly evaluations to determine whether patients should continue. It's not unusual for clients to drop out — or get kicked out — and come back, sometimes more than once.

Methadone clinics are highly regulated. The addict must take the medication in front of a nurse, who at Project Cure stands behind a locked door and slides the cup through an opening in a window. Urine also is routinely checked.

The monitoring is necessary because of concern involving methadone abuse. In 2004, nearly 4,000 deaths were related to methadone, although the statistics include addicts and nonaddicts. In 2005, that number reached almost 4,700.

Many of Project Cure's clients rush into the clinic before work, arriving just as the door opens at 6:15 a.m. "We've had lawyers in here, teachers, students. Addiction can hit anybody," Walder said.

To help with the bottleneck, the clinic last year extended its dosing operation by three hours, to 3:30 p.m. Only on weekends, when clients are allowed extra doses to take home, is the ritual broken.

Holly said there also has been a dramatic switch in who seeks treatment. When the clinic first opened, most of its clients were black.

"There has been a significant change in our clientele," Holly said. "They've gone from being predominantly black to predominantly Caucasian."

The shift began about three years ago.

"It seems like, for some reason, young Caucasian teens begin to deal with prescription drugs — OxyContin, Vicodin — and then they move progressively toward heroin." Holly said. "We're doing everything that we can to turn that around."

About 30 percent of the patients who go through treatment at Project Cure use opiates again.

"Everybody here is not ready to get off drugs, in the beginning," Walder said.

Moyer says he is no longer using heroin. He doesn't mind the repeated trips to Project Cure for methadone. In fact, he is grateful for them. The trips keep him busy.

"I respect the program I'm in. I appreciate it. I depend on it," Moyer said. "I'm a drug addict. I will be all my life. I'm no angel, but I want to get clean. I want to be productive."

A new treatment

Treating a heroin addiction doesn't have to mean waiting in line at an overcrowded facility for a daily cup of liquid medication.

In downtown Xenia, TCN Behavioral Health Services Inc. offers residents of Greene, Clark and Madison counties detox, counseling and drug therapy, and clients often don't even have to wait in line.

Many hard-core addicts still require methadone to recover. TCN dispenses the drugs Subutex and Suboxone, which contain the active ingredient Buprenorphine.

Approved for use in 2002, Subutex and Suboxone take away some of the stigma — and hassle — from addiction drug treatment.

"Any doctor can get a license to prescribe it," Somoza said. "At least you don't have the stigma of having to wait in line at a methadone clinic."

Addicts first take one Subutex pill each day for five days to eliminate the cravings and withdrawal symptoms. After that, they go on Suboxone, a maintenance drug, that contains the ingredient Naloxone, which provides a sort of fail-safe against abuse. Those who try to inject Suboxone suffer withdrawal.

"It's virtually impossible to overdose on Buprenorphine. The only way to overdose is to take another medication, like Valium or antidepressants, that prevent the body from getting rid of it," Somoza said.

Recovery, of course, requires more than a pill. Like Project Cure, TCN addresses both the physical and psychological aspects of addiction, offering group counseling, one-on-one sessions and life-skills training, along with drug therapy.

The building in Dayton and and the one in Xenia couldn't be more different. TCN, at 476 West Market St., has a spacious waiting room, assessments are done on the spot and the 11-bed Creekside in-patient treatment center, where clients go to detox, is nearby. In fact, it's in the same building. Christopher House, a residential treatment center for recovering addicts, is virtually next door.

There is one major drawback to Buprenorphine, however.

"Anybody who needs more than 70 milligrams of methadone — about half of all addicts in treatment — Buprenorphine would not work for them," Somoza said.

The pill therapy is also more expensive. Methadone is priced at about a penny per milligram, while one 8 mg tablet of Suboxone costs $6.50.

TCN offers a sliding scale for residents of the three counties it serves, but its funding is being threatened. About $1.6 million of TCN's funding for alcohol and drug abuse programs comes from the Greene County Mental Health and Recovery Board's operating levy. That levy expires at the end of 2009, and a bid to renew the 1.5-mill levy, plus an increase of 0.5 mills, failed in November.

"Without those levy funds, programs like this could disappear," said Lynn West, TCN's chief operating officer.

Last year, 2,072 people sought treatment for substance abuse at TCN, a 12 percent increase since 2005.

The program works for people like Eli Day of Xenia, who can't see himself going to a methadone clinic. "I've known people who've used heroin just to come off methadone," Day said. "I wouldn't ever use it."

'I know what I need to do'

Day is like a lot of heroin addicts in recovery. He's been there before.

A heroin user since he snorted the drug on his 18th birthday — "I never thought I could get addicted" — Day graduated from Christopher House in the spring of 2008. He got a roofing job and looked into taking college-level classes. Confident in his sobriety, he began cutting back on his daily maintenance dose of Suboxone.

"I wanted to be off everything," he said. "I didn't want to trade one drug for another."

Soon he began cutting back as well on support group meetings and counseling sessions.

He relapsed Dec. 21, the Sunday before Christmas. He had arranged to buy a laptop from an old friend, who offered Day a clean needle. Day resisted, but arranged to meet the friend again to make a payment on the computer.

"All the way there I was fighting with myself. The obsession was eating at me," Day said. "I did it. Oh, my God, I hated myself. My body had that heroin feeling, but my head was thinking about all the things I had learned about recovery."

Still, he kept using.

On the Saturday after Christmas, his girlfriend told him she was pregnant. The news made him regret his relapse even more: He had a baby on the way.

Still, he kept using.

"I had thoughts of running my car into a tree. I felt so bad about relapsing," Day said. "Once you've done heroin, it becomes an obsession. It just eats at you and eats at you until you're doing it again and again."

On Jan. 5, before TCN opened its doors, Day was waiting in the cold, hoping to be the first person served. He went through detox at Creekside and is continuing his recovery at Christopher House.

"I have to put my recovery first. I have to fill that spot dope used to fill," Day said. "I know what I need to do."

http://www.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/local/article/the_pain_of_prescription_drug_abuse/35472/

The pain of prescription drug abuse

Published: February 8, 2009

The 32-year-old mother of two wasn’t high this Christmas for the first time in two decades.

For the average person, staying straight on Christmas Day might not be a big deal. But the Augusta County woman stopped being normal a long time ago.

For the better part of 10 years, Rhonda was caught up in the vicious cycle of prescription drug addiction — every day dedicated to feeding the habit and searching for the next batch of pills.

Her friend and fellow patient at the Pantops Addiction Recovery System clinic, Linda, also had spiraled down into the dark world of prescription drug addiction.

The Daily Progress agreed to conceal Rhonda and Linda’s identities by using fictitious names.

Both women recently told similar tales of troubled lives and the myriad ways they obtained prescription drugs, from “doctor shopping” to using the Internet.

They and others say prescription drug abuse is a bigger problem than illegal drugs in the Charlottesville area. The women also say prescription meds are readily available for savvy addicts desperate to get them.

Lives of ‘despair’

Rhonda and Linda got an early start with drugs, first trying them at ages 12 and 13, respectively.

Rhonda’s parents were addicts.

“I was kind of left to my own devices,” she said.

She used marijuana and dipped into narcotic pain medications prescribed to her mother, who used them after breaking her neck.

“I just liked the way it made me feel,” she said of the pills.

Linda, 35, started out with marijuana, cocaine and alcohol, but said she quit when she had her first child 10 years ago.

In 2004, she started using again after her grandmother’s death and a fire destroyed her family’s home.

She initially was prescribed medication for migraines, but quickly started abusing such drugs as Vicodin and Percocet, both narcotic pain relievers.

Rhonda said she used whatever opioid-based prescription drugs she could get her hands on.

Adam Kegley, who owns the Pantops clinic, said opioid addiction is a “chronic disease” that changes a person’s brain chemistry. The drug causes brain receptors to stop producing endorphins and in turn an addict needs more and more of the drug to artificially produce them.

So instead of getting high, opioid (including heroin) addicts eventually use the drugs just to function and to avoid withdrawal symptoms such as vomiting, chills and cold sweats.

“You feel like you’re coming out of your skin,” Rhonda said.

Eventually the addict’s life becomes a miserable existence focused solely on finding and using drugs.

“You do not feel human,” Rhonda said. “You cannot find joy” without drugs. “It was like despair. … There was no way to get out of it. It’s like playing Jenga: You build as fast as you can but it gets pulled out from under you.”

Rhonda and Linda said they got to the point where they would do or use anything to avoid withdrawals.

Shopping for meds

Prescription drug addicts have to stay on their toes to stay high. Opioid-based medication will keep them high typically about eight hours before they need replenishing.

Within three months of getting her migraine prescription, Linda’s family doctor cut her off. So she started doctor shopping.

The state created the Prescription Monitoring Program in 2003 to fight doctor shopping, and it has created challenges for addicts.

Linda, of Free Union, said she avoided big pharmacies, which were better in tune with the monitoring program than mom-and-pop pharmacies.

Rhonda mostly got her pills from prescription drug dealers.

She lives on family-owned farmland in rural Augusta County, but had no problem feeding her habit: There are four prescription-drug dealers within five miles of her home.

But she also found alternatives when necessary.

“You go into an E.R. and say ‘I’ve got a sore back’ or ‘I’ve hurt my ribs,’” she said, explaining that it’s difficult for doctors to disprove such claims. She would even prick a finger and mix blood into her urine to create the appearance that she had kidney stones.

Typically, she would get a dose at the hospital and then a prescription, too.

“It was survival,” Rhonda said.

Hospitals and pharmacies eventually blacklist doctor-shopping addicts, though. Unless they’re willing to cross state lines, users have to find other sources.

That’s where the Internet comes in.

“It was exhausting,” Linda said of doctor shopping. “Then I figured you can do anything online.”

“It’s easy,” said Rhonda.

But it’s also expensive. Buying prescription medication online often costs four times more than getting it at pharmacies or on the street, the women said. That can add up for an addict taking 35 to 40 pills a day, which both women said they did. Rhonda said she needed more than that. Plus, her fiancé was also an addict. He too is in treatment at the Pantops clinic.

The women said they spent between $4,000 and $6,000 a month for their drugs.

Rhonda and her fiancé earned about $9.50 an hour from their full-time jobs, and every penny went to their dealers. Family, most of who knew about the couple’s addictions, also gave them money, and the couple found “other” ways to get cash when necessary, she said.

As a “Web site shopper” for drugs, Linda said all you need to do is type in your personal information and symptoms, and a “doctor” will sign off on a prescription.

Users can get blacklisted on the Internet, too, though. Linda adapted by using her husband’s name. She said he didn’t know about her problem.

“You turn FedEx into a distributor,” Rhonda said.

Problem becomes public

Each day, about 100 patients come to the Pantops addiction clinic owned by Kegley, who also has similar facilities in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey.

About 95 percent of those patients are addicted to opioids.

“At least two out of three are for prescription painkillers,” Kegley said. OxyContin, Vicodin and Percocet are some of the most commonly abused medications.

Although many prescription drug addicts start using for legitimate reasons, there is a misconception that medication isn’t as bad or dangerous as illegal drugs, Kegley said.

Perhaps that’s why so many people die as a result of prescription overdoses.

According to the Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s 2007 annual report, 388 prescription drug-related deaths accounted for more than double the illegal drug-related deaths (152) and half of all drug-related deaths (717). Mixtures of drugs accounted for another 113 deaths. Alcohol poisoning (20) was the next highest total. The annual report covers about 10 percent of all Virginia deaths.

Kegley said that while prescription drug abuse is a big problem locally and especially in Southwest Virginia, it is not necessarily a new or growing problem.

“It’s now becoming public that it’s a problem,” he said. “But it’s been a problem all along.”

Charlottesville Commonwealth’s Attorney Dave Chapman agrees.

“It’s among the different kinds of drug offenses. It’s among the more common,” he said, referring to prescription drug fraud and forgery. Offenses involving illegal drugs, such as cocaine and marijuana, are still the most common drug cases handled by his office.

In the past year, city police arrested only 10 people on prescription fraud charges, according to the department’s statistics.

Chapman said there are many other cases involving prescription drugs, explaining that many drug possession cases include prescription medication but are officially documented as Schedule I or Schedule II drug cases. Cocaine is a Schedule II drug, as are such prescription medications as OxyContin and Vicodin.

Also, much of what prescription drug addicts do likely goes undetected, Chapman said. Though there may not be as many arrests for prescription drug crimes, “that doesn’t mean it isn’t going on undetected.”

“It’s a significant public health problem and law enforcement problem,” he said.

Rhonda and Linda said the prescription drug culture is broad and varied.

“You would be amazed,” said Rhonda, noting that she bought drugs from all kinds of people, including a housewife. “It’s sad. It’s scary. It’s very real that it’s a big problem.”

She said that when she was using, virtually everyone she knew was also abusing prescription medication.

It’s something communities don’t want to discuss, said Kegley, but education and openness are the only way to quell the problem.

Kicking the habit

Rhonda and Linda hit rock bottom before they came to the Pantops clinic.

Linda and her husband, who have two children, filed for bankruptcy.

Rhonda, who with her fiance also has two children, had been shunned by her family and suffered serious injuries in an auto accident before she went to the clinic in May 2008.

She said she’s lucky she didn’t lose everything, including her children and the house her grandparents let her family live in.

Still, she realized the scope of her problem when she couldn’t even take her kids to McDonald’s because she’d spent all her money on drugs.

Both women said coming to the Pantops clinic has changed their lives.

The clinic’s opioid treatment program uses a combination of medication (synthetic opioids methadone or suboxone) and counseling.

Suboxone is relatively new, but methadone has been around in the United States since the 1940s, when it was introduced as pain medication. In 1973, the Federal Drug Administration approved it for addiction treatment.

Both drugs stabilize the opiate level in the bloodstream but do not produce the euphoria or high of the addictive opioids.

Kegley said opioid addicts suffer from a disease and need the combined treatment to have a chance of recovering. He equates opioid addiction to other diseases such as high blood pressure, which many control with prescription medication.

Dr. Erik Gunderson agrees with Kegley. Gunderson joined the University of Virginia’s psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences department in September, and is focusing his study on integrating opioid dependence care into primary care centers, primarily with suboxone.

Still, methadone has long been a controversial manner of treatment, with critics believing it is trading one addiction for another.

Also, many of the Virginia deaths caused by prescription drug overdoses were attributed to methadone, alone or combined with other drugs, according to the 2007 medical examiner’s report.

Kegley and Gunderson said methadone gets a bad rap. Both said that many of the overdoses involve methadone prescribed for pain management, not addiction treatment.

Such overdoses likely result because doctors, patients and illicit users do not understand that the drug is slower and longer acting. In turn, users often take another narcotic or more methadone, a deadly combination.

Kegley said opioid treatment program clinics such as his are strictly regulated to avoid such problems.

He and Gunderson also argue that methadone works well both for pain management and for addiction treatment.

Rhonda and Linda tried other treatment programs and those didn’t work. They praised the Pantops clinic, which costs patients on average $13 a day.

Both women realize they may have to use methadone the rest of their lives, but they’re OK with that.

Methadone, along with counseling, has changed their lives for the better, they said.

“I have no problem with” taking methadone, Linda said. “It saved my life.”

http://www.virtualmedicalcentre.com/news.asp?artid=13176

Action needed to reduce child homicide

7 Feb 2009

Taking advantage of opportunities for early intervention in families that come into contact with health workers, welfare agencies and the police may help reduce the rate of child homicide in Australia, according to a study in the latest edition of the Medical Journal of Australia.

During the study, Dr Olav Nielssen, a psychiatrist from St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, and his colleagues, examined the cases of 165 child homicides by 157 offenders in the years between 1991 and 2005 and found that most child homicides were the result of the physical abuse of children, while others were associated with severe mental illness, anger arising from the breakdown of relationships, and a range of less common reasons.

“The findings of the study show that fatal child abuse is the most common reason for child homicide in NSW, accounting for 36 per cent of the deaths.  The offenders are usually young fathers or stepfathers,” Dr Nielssen said.

“Another large group of offenders were affected by severe mental illness at the time of the homicide.  Many of those had been in contact with mental health and welfare services before the child’s death.”

Dr Nielssen said some lives could be saved by measures that reduce the incidence of child abuse, including the prohibition of corporal punishment of children.

“Child Welfare agencies and the police should be notified of domestic violence and of any specific threats to a child’s mother.”

Dr Nielssen also recommended earlier recognition and treatment of psychosis to reduce the number of child homicides committed by people during psychotic illness, particularly the first episode of psychosis.

“Health workers should always consider the safety of children under the care of acutely mentally ill patients.”

The authors also identified five deaths that occurred as a result of children being given methadone. 

“Changes to the supervision of methadone supply to addicts with children under their care might reduce this form of homicide.”

(Source: Australian Medical Association: Medical Journal of Australia: February 2009)

http://www.mywesttexas.com/articles/2009/02/07/news/top_stories/suckarieh_sentence.txt

Woman imprisoned in drug death case

A Midland woman was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison Thursday for giving Xanax to a man who went into a coma and died on April 23 last year.

by Staff Reports
Midland Reporter-Telegram

A Midland woman was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison Thursday for giving Xanax to a man who went into a coma and died on April 23 last year.
Emily Micah Suckarieh, 22, was the first of two defendants sentenced in the case involving the death of 21-year-old Brandon Moore, who had also ingested methadone purchased from Tiofila "Toffie" Santillana of Midland.
In an emotional setting in U.S. District Judge Robert Junell's courtroom, relatives of the defendant and victim gave statements about the impact of the case.
"Judge Junell read a beautiful letter from Brandon's mother Karri, in which she expressed how difficult it is to lose a child, how Brandon struggled with drugs for a long time but what a beautiful person he was," Assistant U.S. Attorney John Klassen said. "She doesn't bear any animosity toward Emily and hopes she can get her life back together.
"It was a moving day -- a tragedy from every perspective."

Klassen said Santillana, convicted in a January jury trial, will face a minimum of 20 years when sentenced on March 31 because the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration rates methadone a more dangerous drug than Xanax and the penalties for its purveyance are more severe.
Suckarieh, represented by Midland attorney Ian Cantacuzene, and Santillana, whose lawyer is Bob Garcia of Odessa, were charged with distribution of methadone and Xanax that resulted in a death.
USDEA agents, city police and county sheriff's investigators said the Xanax, an anti-anxiety medicine, "had an elongating effect" on the methadone, a synthetic narcotic prescribed to heroin addicts, starving his brain of oxygen.

http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/saturday/longisland/ny-lisold076027143feb07,0,1628739.story

Hospital exec: Soldiers' treatment needs funds

http://www.sctimes.com/article/20090207/NEWS01/102060046/1009

Woman's bail set at $100K

Rebecca Ann Seffinga, 42, remains in Sherburne County Jail. Her next court appearance is Feb. 25 in front of Sherburne County District Court Judge Mary Yunker.

Seffinga is charged with murder and third-degree controlled substance crime. A complaint accuses her of causing the Sept. 29 death of Anna Jean Burns, 21, of Big Lake.

The complaint accuses Seffinga of giving Burns four or five tablets of methadone, a drug commonly used to treat heroin and morphine addictions. An autopsy by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office found Burns died from a mixed drug overdose and had a lethal level of methadone, according to the court complaint.What is lethal to one is not lethal to another. Of course, the other meds in her system produced no charges.

The charges against Seffinga came after a joint investigation by Big Lake police and Sherburne County deputies. Investigators were called Sept. 29 to an apartment at 121 Euclid Ave. in Big Lake where they found Seffinga with Burns, who appeared to have been dead "for some time," according to the complaint.

Deputies found numerous prescription pills and learned Seffinga had two prescriptions for methadone,

Initially Seffinga said she had given Burns one methadone pill, but later admitted she gave Burns as many as four or five, according to the complaint.

The complaint accuses Seffinga of calling a pharmacy and clinic to find out the ramifications of Burns' methadone ingestion. Seffinga told investigators that after she confirmed Burns was dead, she flushed her remaining methadone, Ativan and Valium pills down the toilet before police arrived.

Investigators later had an informant buy the prescription anti-anxiety drug Xanax from Seffinga, according to the complaint.

http://www.winonadailynews.com/articles/2009/02/06/news/02zubick.txt

Suspect to challenge murder charge in overdose case

One of the men charged with third-degree murder in the methadone overdose death of a Winona woman plans to challenge the legitimacy of those charges, his attorney said Thursday.

Douglas Bruce Zubick, 47, made his second appearance in court on charges of unintentional murder and manslaughter. He also appeared on five unrelated charges that accuse him of selling the prescription drug clonazepam to police informants in June, July and November.
His attorney, Richard Kimlinger, asked for an evidentiary hearing, at which he said he’ll challenge police probable cause and try to get the murder charge thrown out.

Kimlinger also presented a motion to reduce Zubick’s $200,000 bail but decided to reserve the motion for a later date. Zubick remains in custody at the Winona County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.

Police say Zubick gave $100 to Jeffrey Lee Frey, 47, from a monthly social security check to buy methadone from Harold Albert Skroch Jr., 44. Frey bought the drugs and delivered them to Zubick, who arranged for Jane Jay Christensen, 45, to clean his house in exchange for a portion of the liquid methadone, police said.

Christensen cleaned Zubick’s house Feb. 1, 2008, took about 100 milligrams of the drug and was found unresponsive in her home just before 6 p.m., according to reports. She was pronounced dead at the hospital less than an hour later.

Frey was charged with four counts of unintentional murder and manslaughter and has been released from jail on $100,000 bail. He is scheduled to return to court Feb. 26.

Skroch has been charged with aiding and abetting unintentional murder. He was released from jail Jan. 23 on $200,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court April 9.

Zubick is scheduled to return to court Feb. 19.

http://ydr.inyork.com/ci_11636449

W.Pa. rehab center settles methadone firing suit

PITTSBURGH—A suburban Pittsburgh drug treatment facility that fired a counselor who was on methadone is paying her $20,000 to settle a federal disability discrimination suit.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says Greenbriar Treatment Center in New Kensington fired the unidentified employee three years ago when it learned she'd been taking methadone.

The EEOC says the employee had a good performance record and had advised her superior that she was participating in a supervised recovery program for addicts.

The EEOC sued Greenbriar in June and announced the settlement Thursday. Greenbriar will also revise its anti-discrimination policies.

WAY 2 GO EEOC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.sctimes.com/article/20090205/NEWS01/102040046/1009

Big Lake woman charged with murder

ELK RIVER — A Big Lake woman was charged Wednesday with murder in the death of a woman who died from a methadone overdose.

Rebecca Ann Seffinga, 42, was charged with third-degree murder and a third-degree controlled substance crime. She is in Sherburne County Jail. The charges relate to the Sept. 29 death of Anna Jean Burns, 21, of Big Lake.

On Sept. 29, deputies were called to an apartment at 121 Euclid Ave. in Big Lake where they found Seffinga with Burns, who was dead, Sherburne County Sheriff Joel Brott said. Deputies searched the apartment and found numerous prescription pills.

Deputies learned that Seffinga had two prescriptions for methadone, a drug commonly used to treat heroin and morphine addictions. They fail to mention that it is used 3 times as much now for chronic pain and if they found script bottles then it was NOT obtained at an MMT clinic.

Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office's autopsy found that Burns died from a mixed drug overdose and had a lethal level of methadone in her system, Brott said. Research shows what is lethal to one person is not lethal to another and she died from a mixed drug overdose...what other drugs were found and how were they obtained? This is a pattern that continues and must be stopped. You cannot have a law and attempt to "pick and choose" who you will  enforce it with. If they are going to go down this treacherous path then they had better charge every damn one of the dealers when a death occurs NOT just those with Methadone in their system!

Initially Seffinga said she had given Burns one methadone pill, but later admitted she gave Burns as many as four or five, Brott said.

Seffinga told deputies she thought Burns was dead Sept. 28 and on Sept. 29 called a pharmacy and a clinic to find out the ramifications of Burns' methadone ingestion.

Investigators were able to confirm that the calls were made. Seffinga told investigators that after she confirmed that Burns was dead, she flushed her remaining methadone, Ativan and Valium pills down the toilet before police arrived.

Ativan and Valium are commonly prescribed to treat anxiety.

Deputies found that Seffinga had given prescription pills to others who did not have a prescription.

Investigators had an informant purchase the prescription anti-anxiety drug Xanax from Seffinga, Brott said. Well? Were Ativan, Xanax and Valium in her system when she died? Hello?

http://www.livingstondaily.com/article/20090204/NEWS01/902040306

COURT DOCKET: Trial date set in prescription death

An April 27 trial date has been set for a Novi man accused of delivering the methadone that killed a Brighton woman in August.

Norman Kenneth Schoder's former live-in girlfriend testified at an earlier preliminary hearing that the 24-year-old man sold Frances Buresh his prescription methadone pills, which a medical examiner said contributed to the Aug. 5 death of the victim.

A Brighton detective testified that officers went to Buresh's home Aug. 9 for a welfare check, after friends reported not seeing Buresh in several days.

Officers found Buresh dead on her couch and eight white pills, later identified as methadone, in a small container.

An autopsy later showed that Buresh died of "methadone intoxication," and that she also had alcohol in her system.

Schroder is charged with delivering a controlled substance causing death. The crime is punishable by imprisonment up to life.

He returns to Livingston County Circuit Court on March 16 for a pretrial conference. The case heads to trial if no plea deal is reached.

More detail in this older article from January...

Man to stand trial in methadone death

A Novi man was ordered to stand trial on charges his delivering methadone to a Brighton woman caused her death in August.

Norman Kenneth Schoder's former live-in girlfriend testified at a preliminary hearing Thursday that the 24-year-old man sold Frances Buresh his prescription methadone pills, which a medical examiner said contributed to the death of the victim.

Cassandra Redmond of Flint testified that Schroder told her, "I hope (Buresh) didn't die because of the methadone pills," after learning Buresh had been found in her home in the Hidden Arbor condominium development Aug. 9.

The hearing ended with Livingston County District Judge Carol Sue Reader ordering Schroder tried on a charge of delivering a controlled substance causing death. The crime is punishable by imprisonment up to life.

Redmond said she met and became friends with Buresh, whom she knew as Tina, at Narcotics Anonymous. She said that on Aug. 5, Schroder and Buresh discussed on the phone the potential sale of Schroder's methadone.

She told police she believed Schroder sold the 40-year-old Buresh 15 pills.

On that day, Buresh spent the evening with the couple at their tNovi apartment. Redmond's testimony was conflicting on whether Buresh drank alcohol or consumed methadone pills that day.

Redmond testified that the next day she and Schroder took Buresh home, stopping at a bank so Buresh could withdraw $90 to give to Schroder to pay for the methadone. Bank records show the woman made the withdrawal at 5:54 p.m.

Brighton Police Detective Bradley Patton testified that officers went to Buresh's home Aug. 9 for a welfare check, after friends reported not seeing Buresh in several days.

Officers found Buresh dead on her couch and eight white pills, later identified as methadone, in a small container.

An autopsy later showed that Buresh died of "methadone intoxication," and that she also had alcohol in her system.

Howell defense attorney Mark Gatesman questioned Buresh's drug use, and Patton said his investigation showed that Buresh was a "known drug user" and that her drug of choice was heroin.

However, Assistant Prosecutor Shawn Ryan noted that the medical examiner did not find heroin in Buresh's system.

Schroder remains lodged in the Livingston County Jail. He is expected back in court next month.

http://myspartanews.com/articles/2009/02/04/news/doc498a13d620f20467339963.txt#blogcomments

Methadone clinic may locate within 10 miles

This is a photo of the methadone clinic in Rossville, Ga., which is the same company that is proposing to locate a facility in Van Buren County.

Van Buren County could be site for drug rehab facility

By Kim Swindell Wood
Editor
kim@myspartanews.com

Officials in Spencer are reportedly in negotiations with a Georgia-based company that wants to open a methadone clinic in the rural community that directly borders White County.

Paul Connell, chief executive officer of Private Clinic North, of Rossville, Ga., had reportedly filed a certificate of need with Tennessee Health Services Development Agency to locate the facility in Monterey, in Putnam County. However, Connell reportedly decided to pull the application for Private Clinic Monterey because of a technicality in the filing process.

Ely man pleads not guilty to Elko overdose death

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Associated Press - February 3, 2009 1:05 PM ET

ELKO, Nev. (AP) - An Ely man has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder for the overdose death an 18-year-old Elko woman.

Joshua Winton, 23, is accused of selling Jennifer Williams prescription drugs that led to her death June 25.

Trial was scheduled to begin April 28.

Williams was found dead on her bedroom floor by her mother.

Authorities say an autopsy showed she had several drugs in her system and died of an overdose.

In a court affidavit, investigators said Winton acknowledged selling Williams methadone and oxycodone tablets, and that he had prescriptions for other medications filled the week before Williams died.

So, I went in search of the original story.

Murder charge in overdose death

By JOHN SENTS - Staff Writer
Thursday, November 6, 2008 12:46 PM PST

Joshua Winton

Jenny Williams

ELKO - An Ely resident was arrested Wednesday night by Elko police on a warrant charging second-degree murder related to the June overdose death of an 18-year-old Elko woman.

In an affidavit, Elko Police Detective Ty Trouten alleged Joshua Winton, 23, sold Jennifer Williams four methadone tablets, more than two oxycodone tablets and at least one hydrocodone tablet in the days before her June 25 death. I am not sure how you can determine ONE Hydrocodone tablet was taken a week before the death but is has been my experience that you don't hold onto ONE Lorcet/lortab etc. for a week before taking it & why would someone confess to selling or giving methadone and Oxycodone to someone but lie about a hydrocodone pill? I am betting someone else gave this to her & they didn't want to investigate this when it was easier to just accuse this boy of it.

Williams was found dead by her mother on the bedroom floor of her residence at 665 Bullion Road No. 76. An autopsy performed by the Washoe County Medical Examiner's Office determined she died of an overdose, specifically from the effects of methadone, oxycodone and hydrocodone. Other drugs found in her body included alprazolam, carisoprodol and dextromethorphan. Since when does Xanax mixed with methadone not have any effect in an overdose? That is a lethal combo. Also, who supplied the Xanax, Soma? The cold medicine she probably bought herself.

In his affidavit, Trouten said Winton admitted selling Williams methadone and oxycodone tablets and he had a prescription for hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen filled the week before Williams' death. Just because he had it filled does not mean he gave them to her. Trouten said in the statement some of Williams' family and friends indicated she was addicted to prescription drugs such as Xanax, Soma and oxycodone. So she was tolerant to opiates. This is important because it means it would take more methadone to kill her.

According to the affidavit, other drugs found in Williams system at the time of her death may have been obtained from family members or her boyfriend. But we aren't going to pursue that because we have someone to hold accountable for the methadone and OC which are the demon drugs that make headlines...LOL

At 12:10 a.m. June 25, Williams left a friend's residence and was “obviously under the influence of the controlled substances at that time,” Trouten said. She went to another residence with friends for a short time, before going home - sleeping throughout the drive. So how do they know she didn't get the drugs from there? Here is the thing...I realize Winton admitted to selling her the Methadone and Oxycodone but when was that? If it was a week before she died I can tell you it was not HIS drugs that killed her. If there is one thing an adict does not do is buy drugs and hold onto them for a week before taking them or take them gradually over time. No, she would have taken those pills either all at once or throughout ONE day not several days. But lets say she did take them gradually over several days...she was opiate tolerant, the highest millegram she could have had would have been 10mg. pills so 50mg total if she had 5 pills. Over a period of one week would have been 10mg a day which would not have killed an opiate tolerant person. It would have killed her with the first or second dose even with the "buildup effect" of the Methadone. Would it not make more sense that she bought/obtained MORE drugs at the friends house the day before her death? And although the accused was prescribed the 3 drugs with the biggest stigma & he admitted to selling 2 of them to her he is being convicted of the whole matter. She was unable to exit the car and enter her home without assistance from her boyfriend. Trouten said the boyfriend apparently recognized she was in danger and offered to call her father. She persuaded him not to and he left her lying on the floor of their bedroom in the same position she was found that afternoon by her mother, according to Trouten.

Williams was a 2007 Elko High School graduate and was active as a cheerleader, Choralier and office aid in high school. According to her family, she loved the outdoors, fishing, hunting, rodeos and sports - playing Little League Softball until she was 14. After graduation she enrolled at Great Basin College.

Acting on a tip, an Elko County sheriff's deputy arrested Winton at the Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital on the murder warrant. Could the tipster be the one who supplied the drugs? He is being held in Elko County Jail on $250,000 bail. Regardless of how she obtained the drugs, the act of obtaining drugs is trafficking if nobody dies as a result and it is trafficking if someone does die as a result. Winton is a drug trafficker/dealer not a murderer. Below is a news clip from KENV with the police chief which was suppose to be about the case but it turned into a PSA for what can happen if you sell or give drugs to someone.

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20080113-NEWS-801130344

Matt Davis, the director of Community Substance Abuse Centers, a methadone clinic in Newington, talks about the program after one year of being open.

NEWINGTON — When plans for a methadone clinic on Shattuck Way surfaced more than two years ago, some residents expressed fears it would bring drug addicts and crime.

A little more than a year after the Community Substance Abuse Center opened, not far from Fox Run Mall, it appears their fears were for naught. When asked to look up the number of police responses to the clinic, Newington Police Chief John Tretter said it wasn't even worth checking.

"Every once in awhile, we have a parking problem," Tretter said. "I think we had an accident down there once (not drug related), but as far as the issues about what goes on in the building, there hasn't been any."

The clinic operates daily from 5:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. People battling heroin addictions come for medication or counseling.

"Although the concerns were warranted, it looks like they're running a tight ship," Tretter said.

It is the Seacoast's first heroin treatment center and the need has been evident, according to Director Matt Davis. The Massachusetts-based CSAC targeted the Seacoast after finding many of the clients at the company's Somersworth clinic were driving 30 miles from the Portsmouth area to get methadone. The demand, he said, continues to grow daily.

After starting out with approximately 50 people receiving methadone and counseling, there are currently 105 people — all from the Seacoast — receiving services.

"The need continues ... we're admitting new people every day," he said. "The more the word gets out about the clinic, the more people seek services, and we're working to get people the treatment they need."

Davis said the fears expressed early on are not uncommon for clinics, but they're not necessarily warranted.

"I think people have different views of drug addiction and have had different personal experiences, and a lot of it is because of a lack of education," he said.

Methadone abuse — there were 178 methadone-related deaths in the state from 2001 to 2005 — is the result of illegal distribution of the pill form of the drug, which the clinic does not offer.

Dr. Thomas Andrew, the state's medical examiner, has said methadone on the street is obtained through pharmacy thefts, prescription forgeries, and other illegal means.

Chief Tretter is on an advisory board established by the clinic to exchange feedback with the community on CSAC. The clinic, he said, has done a good job enforcing its rules to ensure there are no issues.

"They're actually quite a bit quieter than a lot of other businesses," he said. "So far, so good."

The advisory board is just one of the various mechanisms the clinic uses to maintain communication and good will with the public, according to Davis. Annual meetings are also held with neighbors.

"We work hard to be a good neighbor," he said. "I think a lot of the fears when we opened were based on misconceptions, but after we were open awhile, we just became part of the community."