Pubdate: Sun, 25 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 A 20-YEAR TALKS ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCES WITH HEROIN Jeff Copeland, 20, is one of the few who was able to use heroin sparingly. When he started snorting, he could go a few days between $10 bags. Drinking sustained his downer cravings. But three weeks before his arrest last February, the Portage man started shooting heroin. The high from the needle was much more intense and snared him right away. The night he was arrested, cops tested his dope and found it was laced with the deadly pain killer fentanyl. Luckily, Copeland had only shot half the bag. "I could have died that night," he said. Copeland escaped alive, but he's by no means safe. Life after jail, with no car and no place to live, is a frightening unknown. "I guess I'll have to save a lot of money, get an apartment. I can't go back to the same life," he said. "I just come here or die." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman