From: free@last.mil (Old Lady Winslow) Subject: Warning: Polo brand heroin cut with Scopalamine !!! Date: 1995/12/30 newsgroups: alt.drugs.hard Heard on the news today that Newark, NJ has reported a major rash of "overdoses" related to the use of heroin cut with scopalamine or a similiar drug. Scopalamine can cause delirium and all kinds of weirdness. The hospital said all cases were linked to a brand of dope called "Polo". Polo's been around for quite awhile, and unless they're mixing a package just for Newark, I would expect that the same bag is all over the Northeast. A similiar case occured around, what, six months ago in NYC. Word on the street at the time was that it may have intentional revenge against a particular distributer. It _does_ seem hard to understand why anyone would cut a package with such shit deliberately otherwise... Remember, this isn't one of those "warnings" that's an announcement to chase down the bag in question. This isn't a "Tombstone" or "Tango and Cash" containing super strong fentanyl. It's just something close to poison and it won't give you the nod you want. ==================================================================== From: (Peter McDermott) Subject: Poisoned heroin (crosspost from alt.drugs) Date: 1996/01/01 newsgroups: alt.drugs.hard In article <4c6epf$279e@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net>, smarcus@ibm.net (Steven Marcus) wrote: >There is an outbreak of poisoning from scopolamine-tainted heroin in the New >York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania area. It started over a month ago in southern >NJ (in Camden) and now appears in northern NJ, was in NY last year. All of the >cases seem the same. Individuals appear to use their usual dose of heroin but >lose conciousness, need large doses of antidote to become awake then become >bizarre with elevated temperature, red dry skin and dry mouth, rentention of >urine requiring catheterization, bad hallucinations and ocassionally >life-threatening seizures. We know of over 50 such cases already. > >We are the NJ Poison Control Center, not an official government agency! ==================================================================== Subject: Potent H brings chaos to Philly hospitals From: (Marnie Regen ) Date: 1996/05/11 Newsgroups: alt.drugs.hard Potent Heroin Brings Chaos to Philadelphia Hospitals 5/11/96 >From Associated Press PHILADELPHIA-A powerful heroin cocktail swamped hospital emergency rooms Friday with more than 100 violently delirious junkies, some needing four workers at a time to restrain them. Police were rushing unconscious drug users from the streets where they had fallen Thursday night to area hospitals, where they had to be held down by straps, laundry workers and motor pool employees. One beleaguered hospital refused admissions for four hours. Another doctor said each addict who regained consciousness needed an average of four workers to be restrained. "It's was like the front lines in 'Nam, like a MASH unit," said a security guard at Episcopal Hospital who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Yelling, bodies coming in by the minute, zooming up, dropping junkies, and, taking off." As of Friday evening, 116 addicts had been treated, and people were still lining up for a crack at the drug Friday. "It's a double-edge sword," said Capt. Arthur Woody of the Police Department's narcotics unit. "You want to warn people there's danger out there, but then some come in droves because they want to try some of that 'good stuff.'" Dubbed "Super Buick" and "Homicide," this batch was an odd and super-potent blend of cocaine, heroin, the cough suppressant dextromethorphan, the vitamin thiamine and the anti-motion sickness drug scopolamine, police said. A similar batch caused concern in - February, when 43 Philadelphia-area addicts were stricken. Later that month, four people died of overdoses. The combination causes two contrary but equally dangerous reactions, said Dr. Larry Brilliant of Episcopal Hospital. "They're not breathing when they come in, with a faint and irregular heartbeat. But when we administer Narc-an (a heroin antidote) the scopolamine kicks in and they become wild," Brilliant said. Judging by how fast the casualties came in, Brilliant hypothesized that the heroin, highball was a deliberately bad batch put on the street to ruin a local drug dealer. "You have fights between drug lords, and sometimes one will try to poison the clients of another out of revenge," he said. Hospital workers feared a second wave of patients over the weekend, after drug users receive pay and welfare checks. Drugs and money were still exchanging hands Friday in North Philadelphia crack houses. Police have posted 50 additional officers in the area. ==================================================================== From: (Marnie Regen ) Subject: Fake heroin kills 3, sends 50 to hospital (Baltimore) Date: 1996/05/12 newsgroups: alt.drugs.hard,talk.politics.drugs,alt.drugs.culture San Jose Mercury News Sun, May 12 1996 Fake heroin kills 3, sends 50 to hospital BALTIMORE - Three drug users died and more than 50 others were rushed to hospitals in Baltimore after taking a concoction that they mistakenly thought was heroin, police said Saturday. The drug contained no heroin or cocaine, unlike a mixture that sent more than 100 people to hospitals in Philadelphia last week. Capsules found in the pockets of two of the Baltimore victims contained an anti-motion sickness drug [Scopalamine], a cough suppressant [dextromethorphan] and a cutting agent. Police searched without success Saturday for the source of the counterfeit. ==================================================================== Subject: One dead, 7 sick from NYC heroin From: (Marnie Regen ) Date: 1996/05/15 Newsgroups: alt.drugs.hard,talk.politics.drugs,alt.drugs.culture One dead, seven ill from heroin - N.Y. police Tue, 14 May 1996 15:00:07 PDT NEW YORK (Reuter) - One person has died in New York from an overdose of unusually pure heroin, but police said Tuesday there was no link with recent overdose cases in Philadelphia and Baltimore. Inspector Walter Signorelli of the New York Police Department's Narcotics Division told reporters eight people had overdosed since Thursday in northern Manhattan, resulting in one fatality. ``As far as we know there is no connection between overdoses here and those in Philadelphia and Baltimore,'' Signorelli said. Since Thursday at least 116 people were taken to hospitals after using a diluted heroin concoction in Philadelphia. Three people died and more than 50 others needed medical treatment in Baltimore. In Philadelphia the heroin had been diluted with cocaine and scopolamine, a prescpription remedy for motion sickness. In Baltimore the users snorted or injected a combination of scopolamine and the cough suppressant dextromethorphan which was sold as heroin in capsules. ``Scopolamine was not uncovered here,'' Signorelli said. He said the heroin in New York was of a very high purity -- 84 percent, according to one lab analysis.