HEROIN CREEPS ITS WAY INTO MISSOULA

When the pharmaceutical company Bayer introduced a new cough suppressant in
1898, they called it heroin. The name came from the German word meaning
“great” or “heroic.”

But after 100 years of ruined lives and fatal overdoses, including that of
UM student Corey Rockwell last Friday, most would equate heroin with
anything but greatness. Long the bane of big cities, heroin has recently
made its presence well known on the streets of Missoula.

“We’ve seen a lot more heroin cases in the last year than ever before, and
we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg,” said Scott Brodie, Missoula
narcotics detective.

Last spring’s fatal overdose of drug dealer Thomas Richard Young
illustrates the growing problem, Brodie said.

“We’ve seen a little dropoff in the number of cases since Young died, but
I’m sure that’s not the end of it,” he said.

Brodie added that police don’t even see many of the overdoses that happen
in Missoula.

“Doctors aren’t required to report all the overdose cases that come into
the E.R. to us,” Brodie said, adding that he was unaware of Rockwell’s
death Friday.

Pati Killebrew-Hall, drug counselor at the Missoula Indian Center, has seen
less than 10 overdose cases this year, but adds that before this year, she
had never seen any. Killebrew-Hall said the Indian Center serves anyone
with chemical dependency problems, not just Native Americans.

Killebrew thinks Missoula is losing its relative isolation from big-city
problems.

“It’s unusual here, but Missoula is more tapped into the Internet and the
media than ever before. It’s all contributing to the increase in use,”
Killebrew-Hall said. “If there’s a drug available, people will try it.”

According to the Fall 1998 Student Health Services study, however, only
about 1 percent of UM students have tried heroin.

“When a student uses heroin, it makes a splash in the headlines, but it’s
still very rare on this campus,” said Sarah Mart, health educator at
Student Health Services. This isn’t true for the nation as a whole, however.

According to the 1998 Household Survey on Drug Abuse, more than 130,000
Americans used heroin in 1998. Additionally, the study reports that over
2.4 million Americans have tried heroin at least once in their lives.

Killebrew-Hall says some of this heroin experimentation may have been
unintentional.

“Sometimes it will be laced in with marijuana, and a person smoking the
marijuana without knowing it has heroin in it will become addicted to
heroin,” she said.

According to Killebrew-Hall, it doesn’t take much.

“Heroin is highly addictive. It usually takes less than two weeks to
develop an addiction. Often, using it one time will be enough to form a
physical addiction,” Killebrew-Hall said.

Heroin is an opium-based narcotic that, when injected intravenously, will
reach the brain in less than 30 seconds. When it hits, it produces a short
lived but intense feeling of pleasure and happiness. Heroin creates this
feeling by blocking the part of the brain that produces pain and
emphasizing the pleasure-inducing brain chemicals called endorphins.

Unfortunately for users, the brain also quickly develops a tolerance for
heroin and more and more must be used to produce the same high a small
amount created at first.

This need can soon add up to an expensive addiction. According to George
Burke, a Portland police officer familiar with heroin-related crimes, an
average heroin purchase on the street is between $20 and $60. About $20
will pay for about a fifth of a gram of Mexican black tar heroin, the
strain of the drug most common in the western United States. Black tar was
the type of heroin found with Corey Blackwell when his body was discovered
last Friday.

According to the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration’s website, Mexican
black tar heroin is a lower quality and less pure product than the
Southeast Asian white powder variety often found on the East Coast. Black
tar is also much less expensive: $50,000 for a kilo, compared to over
$260,000 for the same amount of Asian white powder. The reason for the
price difference is the product purity. White powder is usually about 37
percent pure opium, while black tar averages about 10 percent.

The purity of a particular bag of heroin, which usually comes packaged in a
balloon on the street, is unpredictable. According to Multnomah (Portland)
County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Lane Sawyer, that’s what’s responsible for
most overdoses.

“The average user doesn’t know what he’s buying,” Sawyer said. “If they’re
used to 10 percent pure heroin, and they get a jolt of 50 percent pure
heroin, it’s going to put them over the top. They’ll O.D.”

While most of Missoula’s heroin originates in Mexico, it often comes
through larger Northwest cities like Portland before ending up here.

“We haven’t seen a dramatic increase in use, like that of methamphetamines,
but heroin use is still very high,” Burke said. “It’s very simple to obtain
in Portland. You can get it anywhere.” Burke added that all different types
of people are using it, not just the stereotypical back alley junkie.

“It goes beyond socioeconomic bounds,” Burke said. “It used to be a part of
the counterculture. Now it’s everywhere. We’ve arrested upscale business
people for using it.” Burke said that one reason such people now use heroin
is the development of alternatives to the needle, and people can use the
drug without fear of disease transmission or the “track mark” stigma.

“People now smoke it or snort it,” Burke said. “It takes away the aversion
to using a needle.” Killebrew-Hall agrees.

“People here are afraid to use it because of the needle part, but they can
now smoke it through a water pipe,” Killebrew-Hall said. She said this is
another reason for the increase in heroin overdoses in Missoula.

“It’s a quick downward spiral,” Killebrew-Hall said.