Heroin addiction is a very dangerous, growing problem in Iowa, according to a federal prosecutor for the state’s northern judicial district. Assistant U-S Attorney Dan Chatham (CHAT-uhm) prosecutes drug crimes, including dozens of heroin cases, the numbers of which have grown as users move from prescription meds to heroin. Chatham says the heroin on Iowa’s streets is getting more and more potent…..
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Speaking before the state’s Drug Policy Advisory Council in Des Moines, Chatham says an especially powerful additive to heroin known as fentanyl (FEN-tuh-nihl) started showing up in Cedar Rapids earlier this year….
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The Cedar Rapids Police Department has created a new position of heroin coordinator. A Des Moines police officer says heroin cases used to be rare and now they happen weekly. Chatham says bed space for critical detox is scarce and he adds, there’s a waiting list for a heroin opiate summit at the University of Iowa College of Public Health next month.