Heroin hits small-town America: `We're up to our eyeballs in it'

Chicago Tribune ^ | May 4, 2003 | Tim Jones

[sarcasm]

LEXINGTON, Ohio -- A costly struggle against heroin rages in the comfy, cedar-paneled home on West Hanley Road, and everyone inside is losing.

The adult sons of Steve and Chris Thomas have stolen more than $50,000 from their parents' business to support their heroin addictions. The Thomas home is in a lockdown state, with money and other valuables that could be traded for drugs kept away from the boys. A bolt lock protects the master bedroom.

< SNIP >

This is but one snapshot of a rising tide of small-town heroin abuse in the Midwest, occurring in tidy little communities with town squares, bicycles on front lawns and American flags flapping in the breeze. Hospitals and drug counselors note an alarming spike in overdoses, and overmatched police agencies are scrambling to address a drug onslaught once deemed the exclusive purview of big cities and longtime addicts.

< SNIP >

Sgt. Rick Sexton of the Willard Police Department said the annual influx into the region of migrant workers from Mexico, a country that is a major source of illegal drugs, is also a factor.

"The feds are claiming there are more drugs being seized at the border. But we haven't seen the effects of that locally. We haven't seen a spike in prices that would occur if interdiction efforts were working," Messer said.

[Free the USA]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[Ed_in_NJ]

The adult sons of Steve and Chris Thomas have stolen more than $50,000 from their parents

So why aren't they in the slammer?

If the parents are such a-holes that they are still protecting their sons, it's no wonder the situation is so screwed up.

[Ed_in_NJ]

I don't disagree with anything you wrote, but have this to add:

The 'wod' is largely being promoted by those that seek to profit from it -- there is a lobbying group (Drug & Alcohol Testing Industyry Association - see datia.org) that is all about promoting business for the drug-testing chains. The major chains are owned (at least partly) by the large drug companies (Roche, SKB, etc.) - who have more lobbyists in DC than there are members of Congress.

This group has already 'won' the support of the Bush administration - largely by deceit (misrepresenting what drug testing programs are about, and the results they produce).

In a recent Supreme Court case, the drug testing advocates lied to the Court in order to get them pronounced "constitutional."

With this type of profiteering/lying clouding the scene, and our borders still open to drugrunners, the 'wod' is a farce (waste of taxpayers money, and everyone's time).

The "capitalists" are in it because some are making money on it, and others are ignorant of and/or don't care about the details.

[Wake Up America]

You are right. They best place for these boys is in jail first, and then on to a rehabilitation center, mandated by the court. The more clean time that an addict has under their belt is a big achievement for them.

Another thing our country needs is more of those drug sniffing dogs. If we really want to get rid of these hard drugs, we need those dogs to detect the stuff.

Without wide use of canine, there is no real war on drugs.

No one should be immune from the drug sniffing dogs. They should be maintained by others, other than the police department too, because there are police that pinch some of the drugs they confiscate to sell or use for themselves.

Heroin and other hard drugs are insidious to humans. And, from what I have read on the subject, the Heroin in particular is much more potent than it used to be years ago.

If we are not serious to use ALL of our resources to stop drugs from coming to the street. We are remiss in our duty to preserve our way of life for generations to come.

There is big money in selling drugs, and people in power ie 'some' corrupt police, and other people in power, are looking the other way so they can get a kick back to do so.

One thing that could be done is to get the Policman that tells on the corrupt one ...a raise in pay! Or, a two thousand dollar or more finders fee.

Corruption is allowing drugs to go undetected plain and simple.

[csvset]

Here's a link to a five part report about a small Connecticut town with a herion problem.

Plenty of pics as well.

Day 1: Small town, big-time heroin use. Day 2: Death at the Hotel Hooker Day 3: Rich, poor middle-class - no one is immune Day 4: Recovery, the flip side of addiction Day 5: Can't somebody do something?

[gitmogrunt]

Yep. An increase in Mexican migrant workers equals an increase in heroin smuggling.

G.D. mexicans menace again.

[monocle]

A number of years ago Oklahoma(I believe) was considering repealing its prohibition statutes and the most numerous lobbyists against repeal were the moonshiners and bootleggers.

[KDD]

Any one who believes that after 80+ years of fruitless effort we can now succeed in reducing the flow of drugs is delusional. All we accomplish is to provide a price support mechanism for drugs, which by its very nature funnels significant funds to all kinds of criminals and terrorists.


The whole drug business is a perfect example of socialism vs capitalism. The capitalists are winning. Supply always meets demand at a price. No surprise there. What is so surprising is that so many pro-capitalists support the socialist system of prohibition. Ironic. Do they misunderstand the nature of drugs, or the nature of capitalism?...M. Simon

[FITZ]

is a perfect example of socialism vs capitalism.

Except that most addicts don't pay for their own hospital bills when they OD, they expect the taxpayers to provide for their families when they lose their jobs because of their addictions. Socialism allows losers to stay around. Drug and alcohol addiction go hand-in-hand with Socialism because you don't have to compete, you don't have to provide your own living, you don't have to pay your own way. What would happen to all the addicts if we cut off their SSI, Medicaid, and food stamps?

[FITZ]

The "capitalists" are in it because some are making money on it, and others are ignorant of and/or don't care about the details.

Mexican drug lords aren't traditional capitalists. They kill each other off, competition with them is about who kills their competitor best. If Mexico could do anything else as well as they can deal in drugs, it would be a great country to live in.

[BJungNan]

So why aren't they in the slammer?

They don't keep 'em in jail forever on drug charges and jail is no cure for addiction.

If the parents are such a-holes that they are still protecting their sons, it's no wonder the situation is so screwed up.

Definately the parents are not a-holes. They are buried in grief, frustration, anquish that they can not pry their sons from the grip of heroin.

[FITZ]

"So current policy isn't working?"

According to this article in the Mexican paper, maybe Bush's WOD is working at least some.

Crece el consumo de drogas

http://www.diario.com.mx/portada/juarez/nota.asp?notaid=42995

El estancamiento de la droga, producida por el hermetismo en la frontera estadunidense, provocó el incremento en el consumo local debido a la drástica baja en los precios de los estupefacientes de hasta el 50 por ciento, establecen datos oficiales

People told me that drugs were piling up in the Mexican warehouses because they were having trouble getting them over the border and that they were selling cheap in Juarez just to get rid of some of the supplies ---but this is the first documentation I've seen of this. The article talks about the growing drug use in Mexico because they can't get them over the border ---- sounds good to me ---let them take some of their own medicine for a change.

[pepsionice]

I have been living outside the US for 15 years now. I went back 3 weeks ago and found drugs to be rampant...and this is simply a rural area of northern Alabama. There were two Meth lab busts in the two weeks I visited...all within 3 miles of my dad's house. In 1977, when I left the area to join the military...they had three to five teenage busts in the entire county per year. They have at least 100 busts per year now of school-age kids. The amount of theft is constant with the amount of drugs...both increased, and both are directly related. You can now look across the entire US and understand why crime increased in the 1960-70s...along with drug use. Except now, its come to small town America and the rural parts.

The fascinating thing I find now...is that a small number of the law enforcement officials are on the take...and allowing the distribution and sales. They are simply becoming part of the problem now.

I don't see any prevetative measures or fixes in this situation. The government basically has screwed up the situation to such a degree that you cannot rely upon the federal or state government any longer. You cannot trust law enforcement. You can't count on the local school to control these kids. You can't count on DA's or the court to punish these people. There really isn't much you can hope for...and the situation can only get worse.

[Jack Black]

Great! Your solution to the drug problem is to turn us into a parody of Nazi Germany with everyone having drug sniffing dogs. Did it ever occur to you that by simply legalizing the stuff the two boys could get a prescription for it. It costs about as much to produce as aspirin. At $2 bucks a bottle they could support their habits on the money they made working at 7/11, which they could probably do as maintaining Heroin addicts. After going to see a doctor every month for a year or two they might decide to get off the stuff. Or not. I could actually care less.

On the other hand I will be very unhappy to be searched, sniffed, probed and manhandled as you suggest.

Your ideas have been tried for, what 70 years now, and are not working. End the prohibition. Restore liberty in America.

[Ed_in_NJ]

I don't see any prevetative measures or fixes in this situation

The 'fix' is called "individual responsibility" and includes "effective parenting."

Many have gotten sucked into the idea that it's all up to the government -- your comments seem to indicate that you feel this way. Without the government, we are lost, right?

WRONG.

This is the socialist trap represented by the "war on drugs." Government is NOT going to solve this problem -- there are TOO MANY substances that people can use to escape reality, if that's what they want to do.

We have learned to deal with alcohol and tobacco (both addictive and potentially deadly drugs) -- people die from them every day -- but those that value their health and safety either avoid them totally or use them according to their judgment of 'moderation.'

[Wolfie]

Why wouldn't we look to the Government for a solution? We look to them for permission on what we may put into our bodies. Only makes sense we'd turn the rest of the mess over to them as well.

[Ed_in_NJ]

Problem is, of course, that WE wind up paying for the fact that it's a mess that govt can't solve.