Posted on 05/16/2014 2:23:05 PM PDT by mgist
The horrific toll of America's heroin 'epidemic' BBC News, Chicago
Heroin abuse in the US has been spreading beyond inner cities, resulting in a sharp rise in addiction and death. Chicago is a hub for cheap, pure and plentiful heroin, much of it supplied by Mexican drug cartels.
Chicago's "L" train green line leads directly to the open-air drug markets on the city's west side.
As we travel the route with one of the addicts, Jason, he phones his contact. He wants two bags of heroin, each costing just $10 (£6). The dealer meets us, and within seconds two tiny bags are handed over.
This part of Chicago has been ground down by neglect, drugs and crime, and residents talk openly about the narcotics on sale.
Of the four people who stopped to ask what we were filming, all said they had taken heroin.
The police are here, but they seem to face daunting odds as the heroin abuse spreads.
Nearly half a million Americans are thought to be addicted to heroin. One woman we meet in a county jail - she was locked up for stealing to feed her habit - calls it an "epidemic".
"I don't think these police officers know how bad it is out there - I really don't," she says.
Heroin addiction is probably at its all-time high”
Back on Lower Wacker Drive, home to central Chicago's destitute for nearly a century, five heroin addicts are injecting in an underpass.
Some bleed as they repeatedly stab the needle in - desperately trying to force the light brown fluid into their bodies.
Greg can't find a vein and injects straight into his bicep - what he calls "muscling it".
"My arms are fried ," he says. "It sucks. This is what I have to do nine out of 10 times is muscle it because my arms are so trashed."
Greg and Stacey are sleeping rough.
Stacey first took heroin when she was just 11. Now the two of them live like husband and wife in this subterranean netherworld, partners, addicts and the parents of three young boys.
"The hardest thing is just not being there for them," says Greg. "I think about them every day. I try to just numb it with this dope but it's just hard, man."
Continue reading the main story
Much of the heroin supply comes from Mexico, where production has risen more than 600% in the last 10 years.
Heroin is often cheaper and easier to use than prescription drugs, some of which have become more expensive, harder to obtain and harder to abuse - they now come in versions that are not so easy to grind down to snort or dissolve.
Last month Mexican authorities arrested Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the suspected boss of the Sinaloa cartel.
The Chicago Crime Commission (CCC) named him last year as the city's Public Enemy Number One.
Much of the heroin supply comes from Mexico, where production has risen more than 600% in the last 10 years.
Heroin is often cheaper and easier to use than prescription drugs, some of which have become more expensive, harder to obtain and harder to abuse - they now come in versions that are not so easy to grind down to snort or dissolve.
Last month Mexican authorities arrested Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the suspected boss of the Sinaloa cartel.
The Chicago Crime Commission (CCC) named him last year as the city's Public Enemy Number One.
The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) estimates that the cartel supplies as much as 70% of the illegal drugs sold and used on Chicago's streets.
But it's not clear that the arrest will help stem the flow of heroin, especially if demand in the US remains strong.
Increasingly, it's not just the inner-city junkies who are using heroin.
Chicago police make a heroin arrest The recent death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman from an accidental overdose of a mix of drugs including heroin drew attention to something the police have known for a while - heroin now crosses all boundaries.
"Heroin addiction is probably at its all-time high," says Special Agent Jack Riley, the DEA's regional head.
"I've been doing this for 30 years in virtually every corner of this country and if anything can be likened to a weapon of mass destruction on a family, on a community, on society, it's heroin.
"I just don't understand why people across the board don't see its danger. Social services are overwhelmed, our healthcare services are overwhelmed, yet Mexican organised crime and street gangs make billions from it."
The biggest increase in users is among the young.
Research suggests that nearly 34,000 12-17 year olds are now trying heroin for the first time each year, as the drug becomes cheaper and more readily available than ever.
Many live beyond inner cities, in small towns or in the country.
Two fresh-faced victims of heroin: Steven Lunardi (right) has been clean for more than a year, but Stephanie Chiakas (left) died of an overdose, aged 17
So, then the war on drugs should be stopped and heroin provided free by the government by all who ask?
Anyone else wondering why all the Federal agencies such as the DEA are MIA, while this is going on?
$Billions in influence cartel influence peddling, and lobbying, is what has led people to believe that the war on drugs was useless. If you dont believe these ruthless sociopaths are going after your children, think again.
Bottom line, this crap wasn’t around when I was growing up in the drug capital of the world -Miami, in the 80’s and 90’s. There was cocaine, and since there really was a war on drugs, it was too expensive for curious kids. Kids these days dont stand a chance.
There is no war on drugs. It is all a farce. They should start with why the DEA is MIA in preventing this crap from getting into the country. This level of trafficking would not happen without government complicity. Heroin isn’t grown here. The SEC sees no evil while Wall Street banks launder $BILLIONS in cartel money. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/03/us-bank-mexico-drug-gangs
The War on Drugs is busted.
I was wondering whether they simply couldn’t find members of various other groups, races unable to remain clean and sober after addiction other than these fine folks.
No, the federal government needs to get their freaking hands off the whole thing since it is not constitutionally authorized to do so.
There is no war on drugs. There is a war on children.
Pure heroin is flooding our streets, the supply is so vast it is easier to get than beer. This level of trafficking wouldn’t happen without government complicity. Most children won’t stand a chance. If you dont believe these ruthless sociopaths are going after your children, think again.
Most people don’t know that opiate deaths have surpassed alcohol and car accidents in accidental deaths! We are living a level of deception that is beyond most people’s comprehension. Take care of your families!
Heroin is prescribed in pill form by doctors to children. It is available in lollipop form.
http://www.lexi.com/individuals/dentistry/newsletters.jsp?id=december_10
Actiq®, The Sugar-Loaded Opiate Lollipop and the Risk for Tooth Decay
Risk for “tooth decay” is the warning families are given.
They are everywhere today and our government, doctors, and schools are the drug pushers. Many kids won’t stand a chance.
Are we winning the drug war, yes or no?
Most health professionals would rather have it regulated, with those that fall prey to drug use be treated than be jailed.
That’s how it used to be done.
If dealing, you're put against a wall.
Make it unprofitable
Wage a public education campaign against it.
bump
bring back institutions for the addicts
Part of me says keep all the laws in place. Part of me says, let people ingest whatever the hell they want — but they damn sure better not expect someone else to pay for their treatment if/when the time comes.
I wasn't aware that Mexico was the poppy capital of the world, so Mexico is in the bath with someone else, i.e., Alqueda. Since Alqueda is on our southern shores, we have no choice but to finally and once and for all, take over Mexico and liberate it from Alqueda. It's been a long time coming and time to get it done.
Oh cry me a sad song. All of these people knew the risks.
I am disgusted that the Great City of Chicago doesn’t clean up this and other open drug “markets.” Who is the head dealer? Rahm?
The most active areas for Heroin addiction are suburban and ex-urban areas.
People keep moving out of the inner cities but tend to bring their problems with them.
They bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into.......I say, 'Let 'em crash!'
Yep.
It’s documented, and I’m sure can be googled, how Bush I focused on interdiction, and drove the price up high due to lack of incoming supply. Drug use of course went down. Bush I was a moderate to liberal on many things, but he got the drug war right.
Clinton then came in and focused on treatment and rehab. Drugs flooded in, product got cheap, and use went up. Of course Clinton had shady drug connections in Arkansas and no doubt stopped interdiction to assist their efforts. Now it’s just flat out of control under our narco-President Zero.
Good thing I’m not President, because there would be a swath of dead narco-gangsters all over the world. If you as a foreigner got caught smuggling drugs in, you would be shot. If you were willing to offer your higher ups, everyone in the chain would be killed all the way to the top, including all the corrupt banana republic officials protecting them, and you would get life in prison.
There are literally dozens of Federal Law enforcement agencies, over 3,100 County Sheriffs and over 88,000 local municipalities. Just goes to show that government at every level is completely ineffective.
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