Pubdate: Mon, 28 Jun 2010
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Copyright: 2010 Chicago Tribune Company
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/IuiAC7IZ
Website: http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82
Author: John Keilman
Referenced: The report http://mapinc.org/url/9JWKzVHY

CHICAGO'S HEROIN CRISIS

Drug Sends More People to Emergency Rooms Here Than Anywhere in U.S.

Heroin abuse in the Chicago area has gotten worse over the last 
decade, creating a crisis that is perhaps more extreme than anywhere 
else in the country, Roosevelt University researchers conclude in a new study.

The report, to be released Monday, finds that the area has seen an 
increase in people admitted to emergency rooms for heroin-related 
problems. It now has more than any other metropolitan area.

Other trouble signs include soaring overdose deaths in the collar 
counties, a high percentage of inmates at the Cook County Jail 
testing positive for heroin and an increase in the number of people 
injecting the drug.

"We're talking about people who aren't experimenting," said Kathleen 
Kane-Willis, the researcher who co-authored the study.

The study offered no estimate of the percentage of area residents 
using the drug, but a national survey shows that only 0.2 percent of 
Americans have used it in the last year, compared with 10 percent who 
have used marijuana and 2 percent who have used cocaine.

But because heroin has vast effects on public health and crime -- it 
produces fatal overdoses, helps spread HIV and contributes to much of 
Chicago's gang violence -- its use is a particular concern, and not 
just in the city.

"It used to be that most heroin users were African-American males 
from the Vietnam era," said Dan Bigg of the Chicago Recovery 
Alliance, which runs a needle exchange program. "In the last 20 
years, we've seen a shift to a much greater group, starting with the 
18 to 24, suburban, Caucasian population."

While some experts say young white users typically begin by snorting 
the drug, Kane-Willis found that nearly 3 in 4 end up as injectors.

"I think these young white users are into some of the thrill 
experience," she said. "If you want the full thrill experience, 
injection is the way to go."

Illinois' heroin problem is most acute around Chicago, but Lillian 
Pickup, an administrator for the state's Division of Alcoholism and 
Substance Abuse, said it has spread to more rural areas too. Coroners 
around the state have reported a growing number of fatal overdoses, she said.

She said new efforts to distribute naloxone, an overdose-stopping 
drug, could help to save the lives of heroin addicts across Illinois. 
But with the state government slicing its budget, she said, it is 
unlikely that more widespread, publicly funded treatment will become available.

The lack of treatment, Kane-Willis said, is ultimately what drives 
the area's heroin problem.

"If there's (sufficient) availability, they don't go to the ER and 
they don't go to jail," she said.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake