HEROIN IS HOOKING TEEN-AGERS REGARDLESS OF WHERE THEY LIVE

Our opinion: Mindy Self's death hopefully will scare young people off
drugs, and should alert parents to be aware of what's going on.

For too long it's been easy to ignore the threat of heroin. It was a drug
only junkies used - and junkies existed only in the city.

That's not true, of course, but perception is reality for most people. It
was easier to deny a problem existed than to admit heroin was becoming the
drug of choice for suburban teen-agers.

The death of 19-year-old Mindy Self of Chesterton is the unfortunate
spotlight that illuminates a growing drug problem.

Self was a typical teen-ager who either wanted to be a chef or a flight
attendant, who earned A's and B's in school, liked to go to school dances,
liked music and went shopping at the mall with her friends.

But two years ago she discovered heroin through a boyfriend and her
downward spiral was almost immediate. Her new friends weren't interested in
anything except where they could score their next fix.

Such is the grasp of heroin, the most addictive of street drugs. Three
times Self's family admitted her to detoxification clinics. Each time
heroin pulled her back.

Self went from typical teen to junkie, scoring heroin wherever she could,
even if it meant driving to some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in
Chicago.

That doesn't surprise police. A few years ago, an undercover drug operation
outside the Robert Taylor Homes on Chicago's south side traced the license
plates of several drug buyers to Porter County. Nearly all were teen-agers
from Valparaiso and Chesterton.

No matter what kind of intervention Self's family tried, it didn't work.
Even jail wasn't enough to break the hold of heroin. Self had spent three
months locked up in the LaPorte County Jail for violating her probation to
stay away from drugs. It was her family that turned her in; they felt jail
was the best place to keep her away from drugs.

On Saturday, she was released and went home with her father for a belated
Christmas celebration. A few hours later, she left to get a cup of coffee
with a friend, but that night, her body was found in Crown Point, the
victim of a heroin overdose.

Steve Bruhn, Self's stepfather, knows other teen-agers are using heroin and
he hopes Mindy's death gets them to stop. Unfortunately, he fears "it's
going to go in one ear and out the other."

"But the kid who is thinking about doing drugs, (Mindy's death) might just
change their mind completely."