SIKESTON -- Reports of heroin overdose deaths in Sikeston are difficult to confirm and complicated by a more immediate problem: the abuse of prescription drugs.
As a deputy coroner for Scott County and a detective for the Sikeston Department of Public Safety, Sgt. James Donner is often tasked with attempting to determine which drug a victim overdosed on.
"Usually we will draw (a blood sample) on any possible overdose for a 'tox screen,'" Donner said. But without other evidence, such as a burned spoon or a canister of pills, blood test results aren't enough to determine whether it was heroin or something else.
Some medications will leave detectable traces of other substances that can indicate a specific prescription medicine for the toxicology report, but for the most part, "because of how those particular medications metabolize in the bloodstream, there's no way of telling what they ingested -- it all just metabolizes to morphine," he explained.
Whether it was heroin or a medication such as codeine, hydrocodone, hydromorphone or oxycodone, "all you have in the system is the high level of opiate," Donner said.
For the complete story, see the Sunday edition of the Standard Democrat.