Pubdate: 3 Jan 1999
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Contact:  http://www.abqjournal.com/
Copyright: 1999 Albuquerque Journal
Author: Brendan Smith, Journal Northern Bureau

HEROIN A FAMILY LEGACY FOR SOME IN STATE 

Statistics show New Mexico led the nation in per capita drug-induced
deaths, with Rio Arriba County topping the state

ESPANOLA -- Maria grew up with heroin. When she was 15, a family member
injected her for the first time because she didn't know how to work the
syringe.

"Most of my family, we're dope pushers," said the now-35-year-old mother of
three. "Me being the young one, I followed."

Heroin has become a way of life for some families in Rio Arriba County;
and, for far too many, a way of death.

On a per capita basis, New Mexico led the nation in drug-induced deaths,
with Rio Arriba County recording the highest per capita death toll in the
state, according to statistics from 1993-95, the latest years available for
national figures.

"The amount of heroin has increased and the purity of the heroin has
increased to the point where the rate of overdoses in Rio Arriba County is
more than three times the national average," said Darren White, secretary
of the state Department of Public Safety, referring to the 1993-95
statistics that were released this fall.

Heroin addiction has gotten even worse in recent years, police and health
officials say. While the 1993-95 statistics show nearly 20 people died of
drugs in Rio Arriba County, there have been more than 75 drug-induced
deaths since 1995.

Contrary to popular belief, most heroin addicts in northern New Mexico
aren't young men.

Heroin has taken root in some Hispanic families with parents passing the
deadly addiction on to their children, said Dr. Murray Ryan, an Espanola
internist who treats dozens of addicted patients.

"(Heroin use) does perpetuate generation to generation," Ryan said. "By
leaving these children damaged, they're going to grow up damaged and their
children are going to be damaged."

Hispanic families in northern New Mexico traditionally have strong family
ties, ties that bind parents to children and families to the land. While
these bonds usually are a good influence, they can be a dark force for
children growing up in families where heroin has taken hold, an Espanola
narcotics detective said.

"A lot of it has to do with roots, family ties," the detective said. "You
have families involved in heroin, the kids tend to follow in it."

Way of life

For Maria, not her real name, heroin has been a constant presence. She said
she didn't even like it when she first tried it as a teen-ager, but the
drug soon took over her life.

"Every weekend, I started using," she said. "It got up to a $1,000-a-day
habit. You can't even find a vein on me now."

Maria supported her habit by selling heroin with her relatives, moving back
and forth between Espanola and Denver. She was never caught dealing heroin,
although she was placed on probation for some minor charges. Even the
births of Maria's children weren't enough to break her addiction, she said.

"(Heroin) is hard to get away from," Maria said. "I had three kids and they
were all born hooked."

Maria's children had to detoxify in the hospital from the heroin in their
systems before Maria could take them home. Maria's ex-husband now cares for
their 6-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son while Maria has custody of
their 12-year-old daughter.

Maria fears her oldest daughter may become the first member of the next
generation to use heroin, just like her mother and her mother's family
before her.

"She's already out of control," Maria said of her daughter. "I think she's
going to follow my steps."

Turning to crime

Since Espanola is a hub for travel through northern New Mexico, the small
city has become a center for heroin trafficking as well, Police Chief Wayne
Salazar said.

Mexican drug runners called "mules" use northern New Mexico as a staging
area for moving black-tar heroin north into other parts of the United
States, White said. State Police work with the FBI, the Drug Enforcement
Administration and the U.S. Border Patrol to try to choke the pipeline.

With a dose of heroin now selling for $20 on the street, addicts can
quickly see their addiction grow to a $200-a-day habit. To finance their
habit, many addicts sell heroin or turn to other crimes such as burglary,
grand theft auto and robbery, Salazar said.

Espanola police arrested a 27-year-old Chimayo woman in October after
detectives caught her in a fast-food restaurant parking lot with 11/2
ounces of heroin.

Espanola police rely on anonymous tips, confidential informants and
surveillance to tap into the pipeline. But the underworld of heroin
runners, dealers and users lives under a code of silence, an inner circle
police find difficult to break, an Espanola narcotics detective said.

"We have homicides over heroin. You can link it to violence," the detective
said.

In November, Espanola police say a 25-year-old Mexican citizen they had
under surveillance swallowed several heroin-stuffed balloons. Martin "Rudy"
Prado Sanchez was rushed to Espanola Hospital, where he vomited seven
balloons filled with 5 grams of heroin, police said.

Sanchez was arrested and charged with trafficking and tampering with
evidence. Still, Sanchez wouldn't say who he was working for, the detective
said.

"A heroin user (or dealer) won't rat out his connection hardly ever," the
detective said.

'Tip of the iceberg'

Rio Arriba County, with a population of more than 34,000 people, recorded
an annual average of 18.3 drug-induced deaths per 100,000 people from
1993-95. The rate for New Mexico was 11.6, while the national rate was 5.4
deaths per 100,000 people.

Since 1995, at least 42 deaths in Rio Arriba County have been directly
attributed to heroin overdoses, while another 35 people have died from
cocaine overdoses.

That would be 77 deaths -- a far greater number than recorded in the
earlier statistics. And that is "just the tip of the iceberg," said Dr.
Fernando Bayardo, medical director of the emergency department at Espanola
Hospital.

"That's only a fraction of the people we're losing," Bayardo said. He said
it is rare when he sees victims from a car crash, stabbing, shooting or
even some household accidents in which alcohol or drug use wasn't a
contributing factor.

In fact, the problem is beginning to affect more and more parts of the
community.

Some parents were shocked by the recent arrest of an Espanola Middle School
substitute teacher on a charge of heroin trafficking within a school zone.

The arrest prompted the Espanola school board to seek to become the first
school district in New Mexico to require drug testing of all its more than
700 employees. A subcommittee is studying different options. Espanola
detectives arrested 22-year-old Yvette V. Martinez of Cordova on Nov. 6
after police found her slumped on the sidewalk near the middle school where
she had worked that day. Martinez told police she was an addict, and police
found a loaded syringe of heroin in her pants and three doses of heroin in
her purse.

Martinez told police she had planned to sell heroin from the school but
wouldn't say if the intended purchasers were students or others.

After Cordova's arrest, principals at Espanola Middle School and Espanola
Valley High School said heroin has never been found at their schools,
although marijuana sometimes has been confiscated from students.

Federal requirements call for the drug testing only of bus drivers at the
state's 89 school districts. State law requires that all new
school-district employees clear a criminal background check but not a drug
test.

Young addicts

Dr. Ryan said he has seen more and more teen-age addicts, who often turn to
the needle out of despair. A lack of jobs, family strife and the widespread
availability of heroin all contribute.

"In the last three years, there has just been an incredible explosion of
young addicts in the area and addicts in general," Ryan said. "Almost all
of the young addicts started using with the intent to kill themselves. They
have given up hope of any kind of happiness or life."

For that reason, drug prevention should be focused on kids in elementary
school, Ryan said.

"They've already made that decision (to use drugs) by the time they're 13,"
Ryan said. "You have to identify them when they're 6 years old, not when
they're 16 with a needle."

Espanola police teach drug-prevention and gang-suppression classes in the
schools. Hands Across Cultures, a nonprofit group that receives state
funding, also teaches anti-drug classes.

Dr. Bill Johnson, a child psychiatrist who sees several young patients from
Rio Arriba County, foresees more children following in the footsteps of
family members who have used heroin.

"It often is a multigenerational problem," he said. "If a kid sees his dad
using heroin, it reduces his fear of sticking a needle in his own vein."

But many young users don't grasp the danger before they overdose or become
addicted, Ryan said.

"All you need to get addicted to heroin is one shot," he said. "They woke
up addicted but not dead."

Drug of desperation

Once addicted, the lure is strong. The drug causes a powerful physical
addiction with the euphoric high becoming shorter and shorter, while
withdrawal symptoms such as cold sweats, nausea and body aches increase.
Almost nothing will stop heroin addicts from seeking their next fix,
Bayardo said.

"We're talking about people stealing for it, killing for it," Bayardo said.

Bayardo treated an addict in the emergency room this month who became
desperate when she couldn't find a vein in her arms or legs. Heroin addicts
build up scar tissue or "track marks" from repeated injections, making it
difficult to find a vein.

"She had used up every vein in her body," Bayardo said. "She was running
late on her evening fix. She was nervous."

The woman, who had young children, bent the needle and plunged the syringe
into her neck where the needle broke off, Bayardo said. Bayardo was able to
remove the needle and the woman went home with her kids. Nurses at the
hospital have seen the woman before, and they'll probably see her again,
Bayardo said.

While growing up in Espanola, heroin was readily available for David, a
28-year-old addict who quit using this year. David said his friends became
addicted first -- then he was seduced by the drug.

"My best friends were all hooked on it," said David, not his real name. "I
guess that curiosity is what got me."

After losing his job and girlfriend, heroin became a full-time obsession, a
drug of desperation.

During his two-year addiction, David pawned many of his possessions and
used his credit cards to buy merchandise he could trade at half-price for
heroin. He also would act as the "getaway driver" on shoplifting runs with
other addicts.

David tried to quit once before, but left a monthlong detox program in
Albuquerque after only a week of treatment.

"It was still in my mind, the cravings and all," he said.

Both Maria and David are now taking methadone, a synthetic opiate used to
help heroin addicts kick the habit. They receive daily doses of methadone,
which is extremely addictive but legally administered, from the Una Ala
Clinic in Espanola.

"My life has been through the wringer and back," Maria said. "I'm doing a
lot more now than running around looking for my next dollar for my next fix."

Fighting the pipeline

Espanola police, who have made four arrests for heroin trafficking this
year, work with State Police to tap into the pipeline.

State Police, who have six agents assigned to Rio Arriba County, also work
with community groups such as the Chimayo Crime Prevention Organization.
Chimayo, a village seven miles east of Espanola, has long been known as a
heroin hot spot. But community involvement and increased law-enforcement
has helped reduce burglaries and other crimes tied to drug abuse, White said.

The Region 3 Narcotics Task Force also works drug cases in the area. The
task force is federally funded with four narcotics agents and a supervisor
assigned to cover Rio Arriba, Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Taos counties.

>From January through October of this year, Region 3 agents made 51 drug
arrests and seized 403 grams of heroin with a street value of more than
$240,000. Agents also seized 4 pounds of cocaine and 9 pounds of marijuana.

Task-force coordinator Ralph Lopez estimated about 75 percent of the more
than 500 burglaries committed in the four-county area in 1998 were
drug-related.

In spite of heightened law enforcement, neither New Mexico nor Rio Arriba
County will be able to "arrest ourselves out of this (heroin) problem,"
said White, who sees a need for more cooperation between police and health
officials.

"It starts with the breakdown of the family. That's really the heart of the
problem," White said. "I don't think government is going to be able to fix
that problem."

- ---
MAP posted-by: Pat Dolan