THE STATE - News from June 30, 1986

A Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputy collapsed in a jail office after accidentally ingesting the hallucinogenic drug PCP through the skin of his fingers while inspecting inmates’ mail. Sheriff’s Lt. T. K. Davis said Deputy Gary VanDyne, 36, was inspecting a stack of blank greeting cards intended for an inmate of the Elmwood Rehabilitation Center in San Jose, when he fell off his chair and was unable to speak. VanDyne was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment and released six hours later. Investigators believe someone outside the jail gave the unaddressed cards to VanDyne to be forwarded to a prisoner. “He opened it, and there may have been some fine residue of PCP on it,” Davis said. “They’ve got labs now that make real strong stuff. You could touch it, and it’d go through your skin and get you loaded.”