Tracy Cogle’s death was hardly a mystery. And law enforcement agencies were fast learning that one heroin overdose usually meant many more would soon follow, related to the same bad batch. Heroin dealers make good targets for such cases because arresting a single supplier can have an immediate effect in decreasing a region’s heroin-related injuries and fatalities. In 2014, more than 10,500 people died from heroin overdoses, an increase of nearly 80% since 2012, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. The region tallied an average of 17 heroin overdose deaths between 2013 and 2015, up from an average of five during the previous six years, according to police and data from Virginia’s medical examiner.

Source: Los Angeles Times October 06, 2016 12:56 UTC