Pubdate: Sun, 09 Dec 2012
Source: Columbian, The (WA)
Copyright: 2012 The Columbian Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.columbian.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/92
Author: Patty Hastings

CRIME INCREASES AS DRUG USE DOES

Police Say Change in Oxy-Contin Lead to Rise in Heroin Addiction

Vancouver police say a greater percentage of drug-addicted young 
adults are responsible for the area's property crimes, including 
burglaries, commercial robberies, vehicle prowls and mail and auto 
thefts. Drug addicts looking to get a hit will do whatever they must 
to afford their habits.

"I'm very often surprised at how naive people are about this 
connection between drug addiction and theft," said Cmdr. Mike Cooke, 
with the Clark-Vancouver Regional Drug Task Force.

Property crimes are fueled by the need to get more drugs, he said. 
Drug addicts are often unemployed but need income to support their lifestyle.

County crime analyst Brian Salsig said for the last 11 years there 
has been a "moderate positive relationship" between the number of 
drug cases and the number of property crime cases. In other words, as 
one increases so does the other.

Heroin use is a growing problem in the Vancouver area; it's one of 
the harder drugs to quit. Female heroin addicts may resort to 
prostitution and post escort ads on Craigslist or Backpage.com, Cooke 
said. But both men and women will steal.

While the Clark County Sheriff's Office and Vancouver Police 
Department had the most combined drug cases in 2005, Salsig says that 
year the two agencies also had more personnel to deal with drug calls 
and lower priority cases such as property crimes, which may have led 
to more reporting.

A typical drug-addicted burglar will nab jewelry, guns and small 
electronics such as iPods and iPhones, but they will also go for 
larger items such as flat screen TVs. It all depends on what their 
motivation is and what the market demands. Some burglars will compile 
a "shopping list" of items wanted by those buying stolen goods.

Residential burglaries almost always happen in the daytime, Cooke 
said. Burglars typically drive around in a neighborhood they want to 
hit. They knock on the front door of a house and if someone answers, 
they'll make an excuse. If no one answers, they'll find a way in, get 
what they want and walk out.

Heroin addicts typically start by using OxyContin, a prescription 
painkiller and opioid derived from the same plant as heroin. The 
tablets are designed to slowly release the narcotic into the body 
over several hours. If crushed and injected, however, the effects of 
the drug are felt almost immediately. The producer of OxyContin, 
Purdue Pharma, reformulated the drug in 2010, making it harder to 
inhale or inject.

Teens who were prescribed OxyContin -- or found the drug in their 
parents' medicine cabinet and started using it to get high -- 
switched to harder drugs, such as heroin, as they got older. To 
afford their habit, they have to steal.

At about $8 a hit, Mexican tar or powder heroin is cheaper than 
OxyContin, which can cost $80 per pill on the black market.

A study from the New England Journal of Medicine found that while 
OxyContin abuse dropped 17 percent, 66 percent of abusers turned to 
other opioids, namely heroin, following the reformulation. The 
effects of heroin withdrawal are extremely painful, even unbearable.

Cmdr. Dave King with the Vancouver Police Department wants the public 
to record as much info on their valuables as possible, so they have a 
greater chance of being recovered in case of theft. A photo and 
serial number can help in getting back belongings.

"It's frustrating to stop a car that you know is filled with stolen 
goods and let them go because you have no evidence of a positive 
match," he said.

Pawn shop owners keep photos of their inventory and thumbprints of 
the people who pawn them. Through the Northwest Regional Automated 
Property Information Database, police can match a photo of a reported 
stolen item to one that shows up at a pawn shop. If more people took 
photos of their valuables and used this system to identify the thief, 
then it might curb property crime.

"If you can't sell it, you don't steal it," King said.

With budget cuts and lowered staffing levels, police are diverted to 
other, higher priority cases, making property crimes tougher to 
investigate in a timely manner, King said.

The Drug Task Force focuses on targeting upper-level suppliers and 
affecting the supply. Officers, however, talk with drug users every 
day about their addiction and try to steer them toward treatment options.
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