Pubdate: Fri, 18 May 2001 Source: Star-Ledger (NJ) Copyright: 2001 Newark Morning Ledger Co Contact: http://www.nj.com/starledger/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/424 Author: Robert Schwaneberg, Donna Leusner Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) IV HEROIN SHOOTS INTO THE SUBURBS A new study suggests that shooting up heroin -- one of the most addictive and dangerous forms of drug abuse -- is a growing problem among young adults and is shifting from the cities to suburbia. Based on data from more than 200 New Jersey drug treatment clinics, the study by the state Department of Health and Senior Services found that the number of 18- to 25-year-olds who get their heroin by injecting it increased sharply, from 587 in 1993 to 1,326 in 1999. Those findings reversed what had been a 15-year decline in the popularity of injected heroin and show that the problem is no longer confined largely to the inner cities. From 1993 to 1999, admissions of young adults into treatment for heroin addiction -- both snorted and injected -- nearly tripled for those from suburban and rural areas but fell 46 percent for those from cities. By 1999, among young adults seeking treatment, suburban and rural heroin users who injected the drug outnumbered their urban counterparts 2 to 1. "The popular image has been that this is an urban problem. Clearly we have documentation here that it's a problem for all of New Jersey," said George DiFerdinando, deputy commissioner for public health services. He said he worries that suburban and rural drug users are not getting the message, which has been emphasized in urban areas, that intravenous drug use carries a risk of spreading AIDS and other diseases such as hepatitis. The department will be intensifying its efforts to spread that warning in suburbia, he added. The study is being published in today's editions of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Because it studied drug users entering treatment, DiFerdinando cautioned that it may not mirror trends among the estimated 90,000 to 100,000 heroin users in the state. But as a public health official, he said, he has to take seriously the threat that intravenous drug use and its associated risk of AIDS are on the rise. Anna Kline, director of research at the health department's division of addiction services and the study's lead author, said, "What's really happening is this dramatic shift from the urban areas to the rural and suburban areas." Health officials are not sure why, but they have some theories. One is that urban drug users have seen firsthand the devastation of AIDS, while suburban and rural users have been "quite insulated," Kline said. "They haven't seen their friends and family members dying from it." That, coupled with the fact that heroin is now very cheap and exceptionally pure, may have gotten suburban users hooked on snorting the drug before graduating to injecting it, Kline said. Interviews with law enforcement officials, drug treatment specialists and addicts support that theory. At $10 a bag for heroin that is 60 to 65 percent pure, the drug is a cheap high that lures suburban buyers, according to Capt. James Durkin, commander of the Union County Narcotics Strike Force. "Nearly all of the people we arrest are from out of county, from places like Toms River, North Brunswick," Durkin said. "Many are from surrounding well-to-do communities. They travel to the city to buy heroin, otherwise known on the street as 'diesel,' because it is cheaper in the cities." Edison police Lt. John Weglos, commander of the department's narcotic enforcement bureau, said his detectives are arresting more young people for heroin. "There's noticeably more," Weglos said. "People are getting started snorting heroin. They may have experimented snorting cocaine or crank (methamphetamine) and are graduating quicker to heroin." "Heroin use is way up," said Jerry Barone, clinical director at High Focus Center, based in Cranford. "It's found its way into suburbia, more available than before, not as costly, like $10 a bag." That low price, less than the cost of a music compact disc, is part of the reason for heroin's popularity with the young, according to Morris County Prosecutor John Dangler, who has seen "a noticeable increase in heroin use among girls, 15- to 17-year-olds." The exceptional purity of the heroin on the market is also part of the reason. Thirty years ago, heroin sold on the street was so impure "that in order to get high, you needed to shoot up," said Bill Warner, clinical director of inpatient rehabilitation at the Carrier Clinic in Belle Mead. That was enough to scare away many suburban and rural youngsters who "don't want to have anything to do with needles," Warner said. But at the higher purity levels on the street today, they can get high -- and hooked -- without shooting up. "They start off snorting or smoking because they can get a powerful high, but eventually because of the tolerance they build up, they need to use more and more to get the high they want," Warner said. "Eventually, they can't get high from snorting or smoking, and so many who never would have had anything to do with needles start to shoot up because they hear from other people that it is much more powerful." One 18-year-old Warren County woman now undergoing rehabilitation at the Carrier Clinic went down that path in a remarkably short time. Speaking on condition of anonymity, she said she started using heroin when she was 14 and had just graduated from the eighth grade in Morris County. "I started with an ex-boyfriend. It was just kind of something we were both trying," she said. "I started sniffing in July and started shooting in March of that (next) year. A lot of people around me were doing it. I wanted to see what was so good about it. The high is different; you get a rush. But the sickness is also different." Warner said the young woman, who arrived at the clinic Sunday night, lost bladder and bowel control until yesterday and has been vomiting and has a swollen tongue. "This is the first day she's been able to keep any food down," he said. Kline said her statistics showed the increase in shooting up heroin is most dramatic among 18- to 25-year-olds. It is up slightly among 26- to 34-year-olds entering treatment and declining among those over 35, she added. She said the department has too little data about those under 18 to draw any conclusions. But Joe Hedden, executive director of Daytop-NJ, an adolescent drug treatment center in Mendham, Morris County, said he sees more people under 18 coming in for heroin addiction. "Six years ago, I doubt if we had one or two adolescents using heroin. Right now, 60 percent of our kids are addicted to heroin," Hedden said. "It's become the drug of choice for adolescents in the New Jersey suburbs." - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk