Pubdate: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 Source: Times, The (Munster IN) Copyright: 2006 The Munster Times Contact: http://www.nwitimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/832 Author: Elizabeth Holmes Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) TEMPTATION TO KEEP USING HEROIN TOUGH TO FIGHT Bill Burnson stood in the stairwell of a Chicago public housing project building near U.S. Cellular Field, waiting in a line that snaked for three floors, to buy heroin. It was 2 a.m., and Burnson was focused on his need for a fix when several guys demanded he hand over his money. Burnson, a former athlete at Wheeler High School, stared at them in shock. Then he heard a shrill whistle and, seemingly out of nowhere, two men with baseball bats appeared and flew down the stairwell. "They beat those guys up bad, real bad," he said of the security detail. "They said, 'Aww, you know, don't worry about that, we'll throw you a couple extra bags. Don't be scared to come up here. It'll never happen again.' " The cardinal rule of drug dealing: Never mess with the customers. Burnson, now 23, quickly learned the drug-buying protocol three years ago when he became an addict. A college kid who smoked marijuana occasionally, Burnson tried heroin once and was hooked. His addiction eventually caused him to drop out of St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer just shy of his bachelor's degree. Back home in Valparaiso, he made daily dangerous trips to the city to feed his habit. "When you're sick and you need it, you really don't care about the speed limit, about causing an accident," he said. "You're getting up there as quick as you can to cure yourself." Once in the projects on the South Side, Burnson would run up the stairs where the dealers were waiting in the hallways around the clock. They all had guns and assigned roles, Burnson said -- one for security, one for collecting the money and a third for serving the Ziploc bags full of heroin. If the dealers were "on hold" -- meaning they halted distribution temporarily to fill more bags -- the line in the stairwell could be up to eight floors long. At $10 a bag, Burnson would buy between $20 and $400 of heroin at a time. As soon as he got in his car, he'd shoot up. "The concern, as far as cops, aren't as great there," he said. "Around here, you gotta watch yourself." But Burnson's habit caught up with him. The good-looking kid who once lettered in soccer and baseball at Wheeler High School now is serving a year in jail -- his fourth such sentence. This time, he's in for a probation violation. He stayed clean for a year until one day, when he planned to play basketball with his friends, he opened his sock drawer. "I grabbed a roll of socks, undid 'em and three bags fell out. I'd stashed them there who knows how long ago," he said. "I wasn't strong enough to just flush 'em down the toilet." The mistakes he's made, including the impact his habit has had on his parents and siblings, keep him awake at night. "Your mind's your worst enemy in here," he said. "I coulda graduated from college, had a good job. I was on my way to having a good life." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman