CITY BATTLES SPECTER OF HEROIN

Police, Counselors See Rise In Usage

Police said the phones used to ring in three separate Binghamton
houses, as callers ordered heroin like fast food.

Dealers would hop in their cars and deliver the drug much like
restaurants deliver pizza. The phones stopped ringing Dec. 15 when
police broke up the heroin ring in a raid that sent eight people to
jail.

It wasn't long after the phones started ringing in the Southern Tier
Drug Abuse Treatment Center, which is under the United Health Services
umbrella.

"Their supply got interrupted," explained Alan Wilmarth, director of
addictions and outpatient mental health services of Southern Tier Drug
Abuse Treatment Center. "They're coming in to detox to avoid some of
the pain of heroin withdrawal."

Injecting heroin with needles was popular during the 1970s before drug
overdoses and AIDS began scaring users. Today, heroin is making a
comeback in the Southern Tier and across the nation. Local drug
counselors said they see more heroin addicts in their waiting rooms,
while police report making more heroin arrests.

The Southern Tier Drug Abuse Treatment Center, which treats addicts
with methadone, has a waiting list for the 50 slots available. Some 9
percent of Fairview Recovery Center's female halfway house patients
were there because of heroin this year, up from 7 percent last year,
said Daniel Valla, director of residential services for the agency.
For men, 16 percent were treated for heroin abuse this year, up from 8
percent last year.

Heroin's rising popularity has also kept law enforcement
busy.

In 1999, state police seized 18.77 pounds of heroin, while the drug
enforcement task force, a multi-police agency with several units
throughout the state, seized 62.61 pounds of heroin, according to Sgt.
Jamie Mills. That figure rose to 53.8 pounds for the first nine months
of this year and 67.9 pounds seized by the task forces, Mills said.

Nearly all of the heroin came from New York City and traveled up Route
17, said state police Lt. Patrick J. Garey Sr. It's worth the trip.

A $5 piece of heroin in New York City costs $20 up here," said Garey,
head of the Community Narcotics Enforcement Team, one of several
police agencies that took part in the Dec. 15 raid.

There's less competition here, Garey said. And less heroin is required
to make a user high compared to other street drugs.

"It's a heck of a lot easier to ship 10 kilos of heroin than it is to
ship 100 kilos of cocaine," he said.

All that heroin coming in makes it easier for local buyers to get
some.

"It's all over the city, more than people realize," said Roxanne
Boehlert, program coordinator for the Addiction Crisis Center, run
under the Fairview umbrella. "You walk down the street and you can get
it."

The stereotypical image of heroin users has changed over the years,
Garey said. They used to be looked down on as dirty hippies in the
park, shooting up the drug. But today, users don't have to inject with
needles and can snort it in the privacy of their living rooms, Garey
said.

"The stigma of being a heroin user is gone," she said. "It's more
socially acceptable to say, 'I tried heroin.'"

"Some folks say they try it out of curiosity. 'My friends are doing
it, so I thought I would try it,'" said Debby O'Brien, coordinator of
specialty programs for the Southern Tier Drug Abuse Treatment Center.

Who are the local heroin users?

The average age of those undergoing methadone treatment at O'Brien's
clinic is 40, while the youngest is 28 and the oldest is 60, O'Brien
said. Their ranks cut across all socioeconomic and racial lines.

Most are working people, said Anthony Natale, an educator for the
Southern Tier AIDs Program.

"You would never know they were heroin addicts," he said. "They're
functional. They hold jobs."

Natale literally walks the streets to fight AIDS through prevention
and education by handing out pamphlets, condoms and bleach to clean
needles. One way AIDS is spread is through re-using dirty needles to
inject drugs such as heroin.

"We don't promote drug abuse," Natale said. "But if they're out there,
let's keep them safe."

Even though the drugs and drug sellers might hail from New York City,
nearly all of the users are locals. For example, 92 percent of those
knocking on the door of the Addiction Crisis Center are longtime
Broome County residents with the rest coming from surrounding
counties, said Daniel Valla, director of residential services for
Fairview Recovery Services.

The solutions are simple: more education to keep people from trying
heroin and more treatment to keep them off the drug, drug counselors
say. Methadone works with most, O'Brien said.

"We have people who have turned their lives around unbelievably," she
said. "If you saw them on the street, you would never guess they were
a heroin addict in the past."

Meanwhile, police have their own strategies to fight the war against
drugs.

"We attack the supply end of it," said Binghamton Police Lt. David
Eggleston, who participated in the Dec. 15 raid. "We'll continue to
monitor and aggressively combat the heroin problem just like we have
been doing with the cocaine problem."

Jeannie Adams, who lives down the road from 15 William St., one of the
houses raided Dec. 15, said she is glad to hear that but wishes police
would move faster.

"They should take less time doing an investigation," she
said.

But she appreciates seeing dealers put out of business. "I'm just glad
they're gone," she said. "We definitely don't need that around here."

Meanwhile, the cycle continues, as new drug dealers move in to replace
ones that have been arrested.

"In a few weeks, someone else picks up wherever they left off. So our
phone calls decrease," O'Brien said.

Some of those seeking treatment drop out and start using
again.

"The drug trade is continually evolving," Binghamton Mayor Richard A.
Bucci said. "They (drug dealers) will stop at nothing to accomplish
their objectives. There's no day off for police. They are working
every day of the year around the clock, gathering intelligence,
surveying properties and coordinating raids." Residents can only hope
drug dealers avoid their neighborhood.

"It's something that's going on all over the place now," said Michael
Burdick, who lives down the road from the William Street house. "I
don't know who will move in there next. You never know."