Pubdate: Thu, 30 Aug 2007 Source: Flint Journal (MI) Copyright: 2007 Flint Journal Contact: http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/836 Note: Prefers to print letters from people in the area of The Flint Journal Author: Kim Crawford Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) 'JAIL, INSTITUTIONS AND DEATH' Journal Series Sparks Users, Survivors To Tell Of Their Heroin Hell Their stories - of the rise in heroin addiction, the pain it brings and sometimes the deaths of loved ones that result - resonated with Flint Journal readers. After a series about heroin addiction among young people appeared earlier this month, others wanted to share their experiences. Their stories are dramatic, heartbreaking, hopeful. Among them: "My husband and I have been through hell and back trying to help my son, and we have taken him in on numerous occasions, only to be slapped in the face for doing it," his mother said. "I have gone through many losses of close friends that have passed from this disease called addiction," she wrote. "I just want to let people know who are going through it that there is help, and you can get though it all." "He had methadone and OxyContin," said his mother. "His death isn't counted as an overdose, but it's clear that he did overdose." "She gives us the typical heroin user's line," said her father. "She says she doesn't have a problem, she isn't addicted." The Journal stories outlined how area suburbanites, many of them teenagers, in recent years have been driving the local heroin market and changing the demographic of those seeking help for addiction. The articles detailed the rise in the number of local people who report heroin as their primary drug and are seeking treatment for drug abuse. In 2006, more than 800 people, or 14 percent of those in publicly funded treatment, said they were addicted to heroin. Several years ago, heroin addicts made up only a small percentage of the total number of people seeking treatment. The stories also reported that the abuse of such prescription pain-killing drugs as OxyContin and Vicodin has led hundreds of area residents to become heroin users over the past several years and recounted the story of the deaths of young local heroin addicts. Genesee County Health Department records show that 24 people from the Flint area died in 2006 from overdoses caused by heroin and a deadly painkiller called fentanyl that has been mixed with heroin coming into southeastern Michigan from Mexico in recent years. But some readers told The Journal they believed the death rate from heroin and fentanyl is higher than county records reflect. "My brother was a heroin addict and is he on that list? No," said a woman named Nicole about her 33-year-old sibling, who died at his home on Flint's east side last November. Others echoed that comment. Most responses were from parents of young heroin users, telling of the difficulty of getting their children, typically in their 20s, into treatment, and how addicts often pretend to go along with treatment only to keep using. "My son was in a group of athletes from Goodrich High School," said Michielle, his mother. "They were all friends, good kids from good homes when they first tried it back in 1998 or 1999. "One of them urged the rest of them to try heroin. I know he was given Vicodin when he suffered sports injuries in high school, and he loved it, and sometimes I think back to that, that it was the beginning of it." It was the start of a 10-year nightmare, she said. Her son has stolen from her and other relatives, and they saw him change from a handsome, popular student-athlete to a liar and thief with no future and no prospects. Although he claimed at times to have given up heroin, his mother said he hasn't, and she no longer can allow him into her home. "It is a horrible way to have to think about your own son, but I cannot handle this anymore," she said. Some readers wanted others to know there are success stories in the struggle with heroin addiction. Courtney, 20, told how typical high school experimentation with drugs and alcohol three years ago led her to OxyContin and heroin addiction. "I used all my open house money that I had saved and kept coming up with excuses to tell my parents when they asked where it was going," she wrote of the cash she was given when she graduated from Swartz Creek High School. "Nearly $2,000 gone in one week. None of that went to what I told people it was going to go to. It all was spent on heroin." She eventually was caught stealing from family members and went into treatment, though, like many other addicts, she didn't want to give up the drug. She overdosed, survived and continued to steal and use until she crashed her car when she blacked out. Earlier this year, Courtney went back into treatment and served a stint in jail for larceny. She said she knew then that she had to change her life. "It is a very hard thing to go through, but you have to accept the fact that you have an addiction. But it can be treated if you choose to, and only you can choose," she wrote. "Jails, institutions and death: I think and thank God every day that I've have only hit two out of the three." Dan of Swartz Creek told of paying tens of thousands of dollars to put his teenage son into a long-term residential treatment program called Pathways in Southfield, while his own health insurance probably will cover little, if any, of the cost. The treatment may bankrupt him, but Dan said he has to try to help his son. His son also had a close call with an overdose, stole from his family to buy heroin and had been in and out of local substance-abuse treatment centers over the past three or four years. "My son turned 18 while in treatment," said Dan. "Heroin is a lot worse problem here than people think it is. When I think about what's happened, I would not believe it." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman