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Community Serious About What Professionals Describe As An Epidemic Among Young People
South County Times | Sept. 2, 2011
Marilyn Smashey goes to bed every night and wakes up each morning with the same image in her mind: her 18-year-old son, Taylor Green, lying in his room with his eyes open – dead from a heroin overdose.
"When you look into the face of death and it is your child, you will never be the same," Smashey told a crowd of about 500 on Monday night at Oakville High School in South County. "I hope that no other person has to bury a child – especially over heroin."
The record-breaking crowd gathered for a heroin town hall meeting, the third of its kind as part of an awareness campaign to combat the rising use and alarming death toll of the drug in the St. Louis area.
Last year, heroin was responsible for 60 deaths in St. Louis County, according to St. Louis County Police Department. This year, there were 49 heroin deaths by the end of July, leading local law enforcement to believe this year's number will soar significantly past 60. The average age range of the victims is 25 to 30, and there is a growing number of suburban teenage deaths, police said.
"This problem is reaching into the suburbs," said St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch. "It's not a white problem; it's not a black problem; it's a problem."
The staggering statistics sparked the campaign against heroin called Curiosity + Heroin: Not Even Once – a joint effort of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse-St. Louis Area, St. Louis County Children's Service Fund and the St. Louis County Police Department, with funding from the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse.
The campaign's title borrows from the proverb, "curiosity killed the cat," and aims to harp on how one use of heroin can lead to death.
"Some people get addicted the first time – some people die the first time," Fitch said.
The drug, a physically and emotionally addictive depressant, is a major problem in South County and West County in particular, he said.
Fitch was one of five speakers, including representatives from National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse-St. Louis Area, St. Louis County Children's Service Fund and the St. Louis County Police Department, at the Monday night meeting to detail the education, symptoms, long-term effects and treatment of heroin.
Dan Duncan, of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, said the response to the heroin issue must be five-fold: increasing awareness among parents and children, parents strictly monitoring children's behavior, prevention efforts in schools, treatment and law enforcement participation.
"Heroin use has changed because heroin has changed – in availability, purity, stigma and cost," Duncan said.
The drug is cheap, Fitch said. At $10 per 1/20 of a gram, a person can get a four-hour high from heroin cheaper than the cost of a six pack of beer. He said many people who abuse prescription drugs, which can be expensive, have moved to heroin because it is cheaper.
Another reason for the drug's seemingly sudden rise in popularity is its heightened purity – giving users a better high. It has skyrocketed from 13 percent purity in 2001, to 24 percent in 2009 and an average of 38 percent in 2010, said St. Louis County Lt. Chuck Boschert. And local police say they have seen purity levels as high as 50 to 75 percent.
Heroin also has lost its stigma, Boschert said.
"The stigma is gone. That's what rock stars do; that's what celebrities do. Kids use it as a recreational drug and don't think it's dangerous," he said.
The drug, which is a white, powdery substance, is often referred to by dealers and users as "buttons" or "beans" because of its appearance after it is cut into capsules such as the sleep aid, Dormin, to be sold, Boschert said.
To determine if your child is using heroin, Boschert said signs to look for are: missing cash, checks and valuables, missing or burnt spoons, avoiding family interaction, interaction with new friends, and academic and behavior issues at school. Physical signs are: bloodshot eyes, small pupils and lack of personal hygiene.
"You can do everything right and this can still happen to your child. This can happen in the best of families," Fitch said.
The addiction also often leads to other criminal behavior, such as shoplifting and robberies to gain monetary support for the typically $30-a-day habit, Boschert said.
The drug is being brought into the community from Mexico and South America, and a common travel route for dealers and users is Interstate 70, according to police.
"We are targeting those who are selling here in the community," Fitch said.
In an effort to promote treatment and find the drug dealers, every person arrested in connection to heroin is given an information card that includes a behavioral health center contact to urge treatment and a police contact to urge users' cooperation in finding the dealers.
For help with an addict or to report any information related to heroin users or dealers, officials said to contact the St. Louis County Drug Task Force at 427-4101, drugenforcement@stlouisco.com, or the organization's Facebook page.
Kate Tansey of St. Louis County Children's Service Fund also offered information to help heroin addicts and their families, including support groups Heroin Anonymous and Parents Anonymous.
"Addiction is a brain disease and it can be treated, but the whole family has to be in recovery," she said.
Tansey also stressed the quick, significant hold the drug can take on its users and why it is important for family members to avoid the barriers of stigma, denial and fear when it comes to suggesting everything from a first step toward treatment – a mental health examination – to long-term physical and mental rehabilitation.
Speakers also encouraged audience members to speak out to their legislators about the issue to help prevent more parents from losing a child as Smashey lost her son.
"I know lives have been saved," Fitch said, following Smashey's talk.
After Smashey exited the stage, multiple audience members took the microphone and revealed their children also had died of heroin overdoses: a woman's 22-year-old daughter, a man's 21-year-old stepson and a woman's 36-year-old daughter – who was an Oakville High School graduate.
Many audience members were brought to tears as local residents put faces to the region's heroin death statistics.
Fitch said heroin addiction affects everyone in the community – from the victims and their families to taxpayers' pocketbooks.
"It costs three times as much to incarcerate a drug addict as it does to get them treatment," he said.
Duncan said the heroin problem will require a significant number of people to get involved.
"It's going to have to be a grassroots effort from door-to-door," he said.
*Check out not-even-once.com for details about upcoming heroin town hall meetings
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