WOMAN DIES FROM SUSPECTED METHADONE OVERDOSE

Woman's Friend Hospitalized

MARION - Two suspected methadone overdoses, one fatal, have the
Marion Police Department scrambling to determine how the highly
regulated drug may be getting into the community.

Maj. Tom Robbins said Kimberly Hamm, a 19-year-old Marion woman, died
early Thursday morning from a drug overdose. A friend, whose name
police are not releasing, is being treated at Marion General Hospital
after his mom found him unresponsive at his home Thursday afternoon
and called 9-1-1.

Robbins said officers are waiting for results of toxicology and
coroner's reports before determining whether the drug was methadone.
He said information uncovered by officers during the investigation
led them to believe it is. Police searched a Fies Avenue home and
have made three arrests, one on an unrelated warrant out of Marion
Municipal Court. The case will be presented to the Marion County
Prosecutor's Office on Monday for determination of final charges.

"We're still working this pretty hard," said Robbins, who said
several officers worked beyond the ends of their Thursday evening
shifts investigating the case. "We've had people working 24 hours on
this. It is uncommon and that concerns us."

Police arrested Shane Houseworth, 23, 623 Blake St., on a felony
charge of trafficking in drugs. Bryan Nichols, 23, 267 Fies Ave., was
originally arrested on a charge of obstructing official business and
is being held on a felony charge of possession of methadone.

Officers who searched Nichols' house also arrested his 20-year-old
brother Robert Nichols, who was wanted on a warrant for contributing
to the delinquency of a minor. Family members said he was released on bond.

Marion Police Lt. Jeff Shenefield said he could not answer whether
police believe Houseworth was who supplied Hamm and her friend with
the drugs that caused the overdoses. He also could not answer whether
the two overdose victims received the drugs from the same person.

"That's what we're checking into right now," he said.

While Hamm was a friend of Nichols' sister and was at Nichols' house
shortly before the overdose, Nichols' mother Laura Check said no one
in her family supplied Hamm with the drug. She said she forgot to
tell police that she gave some of her boyfriend's prescribed
methadone to her son Bryan because he injured his back while moving furniture.

"Someone said they had gotten some kind of medicine off of my sons,"
Check said. "My son never sold no pills to nobody.

"The girl was my kids' friend, best friend. It's a tragedy, tearing
us all up. I'm more tore up about her passing away than them putting
my son in jail."

Neither Shenefield nor Robbins were available for additional comment.

Methadone is a synthetic narcotic used as a painkiller. It has also
been used for more than 30 years to help suppress withdrawal symptoms
of heroin addicts.

According to the federal Office of National Drug Control Policy,
about 20 percent of the country's nearly 810,000 heroin addicts
receive methadone as part of their treatment.

The drug was originally developed as an alternative to morphine and
other pain-killers by German scientists during World War II.
According to the Center for Substance Abuse Research, the effects of
a single dose can last anywhere from 24 to 36 hours.

Police and local drug prevention and treatment agencies said
methadone is not a common drug of choice among local drug abusers. It
is also highly regulated and not easy to get.

Marion County Alcohol, Drugs and Mental Health Board Director Jodi
Demo-Hodgins said heroin addicts are only given the drug under
supervision of drug treatment facilities and must attend the facility
every day in order to receive methadone.

"There's a whole lot of structure in how these places work," she
said. "They literally give you a white cup and you take it in front of them."

Marion County lacks any in-patient drug rehabilitation center and
refers many addicts seeking treatment to the Comp Drug Inc. treatment
center in Columbus, one of the few methadone treatment programs
available in the state. An employee of Comp Drug said Friday that no
one was available to answer questions about the use or availability methadone.

Robbins said methadone abuse is not unheard of in the community but
is rare. Shenefield said there have been other cases of lethal
methadone overdoses over the past few years, but never does he
remember two overdoses happening in such a close time period.

Robbins said police are trying to determine the source of the
narcotics "and trying to extinguish it."

What Is Methadone?

Short-term side effects:

Restlessness, vomiting, nausea, slowed breathing, itchy skin, pupil
contraction, severe sweating, constipation, sexual dysfunction, death.

Long-term side effects:

Lung and respiration problems.

Where to seek treatment of drug addiction

Center director David Wilhelm said Marion County lacks in-patient
drug rehabilitation facilities and, when necessary, refers people in
need of such services out of the county.

More information on the center and what it offers is available by
calling 740-387-5210.