WABASH AUTHORITIES BATTLING HIGH HEROIN USE

WABASH, Ind. - Law enforcement officials in rural Wabash County are
battling an unusually high incidence of heroin use, an addiction once
deemed an urban problem that experts say is being fed by trafficking
from the Chicago area.

As many as 20 people have regularly traveled to Chicago, where they
have bought enough heroin to supply their own consumption plus some
extra to sell back home to cover their travel costs, Wabash Police
Chief Charles Smith told The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne.

"We're very fortunate that somebody from Wabash hasn't ended up dead
in the streets in Chicago," Smith said.

While other counties in northeast Indiana have not reported big
increases in heroin use, members of the Wabash Drug Task Force say
the county has a significantly high number of heroin users. That
position is supported by officials at the Center for Behavioral
Health, a Fort Wayne clinic that specializes in treating people
addicted to heroin and other opiates.

Vicki Stephenson, the center's clinical director, said Wabash County
addicts began arriving at the center about five years ago. Although
the county about 30 miles southwest of Fort Wayne has a relatively
small population of 35,000, it provides as much as 15 percent of the
clientele for the center, which draws from throughout northeastern Indiana.

Last March, after clinic staff learned of an overdose death in Wabash
County, they sought a meeting with local officials including Smith,
members of the task force, Sheriff Leroy Striker and Wabash Mayor
Robert Vanlandingham.

Members of the task force already knew about heroin's growing
popularity. By last year, most of its caseload had shifted to heroin
from other popular street drugs such as methamphetamine, cocaine,
marijuana and prescription pills.

Wabash police are unsure why the drug has become so popular,
especially with surrounding counties seeing little or no increase in
heroin use. Stephenson said it might be linked to heroin's increasing
purity and decreasing price. Addicts can buy a foil package of heroin
for about $40, while an 80-milligram OxyContin pill costs twice as much.

"Based on what we hear and read, it's being marketed to younger
people," Stephenson said.

Smith said most Wabash County heroin users range in age from about 18 to 30.

Wabash County Prosecutor William Hartley said a higher number of
arrests has led to the perception that Wabash has a heroin problem,
when it might not be any worse than heroin use elsewhere.

"I think that, for Wabash County specifically, we have an active drug
task force, so there are a lot more arrests in the past couple years
than there have been in the past," Hartley said.

Police in neighboring Kosciusko and Huntington counties, however,
said they haven't seen evidence of any significant heroin use in
their counties.

Mayor Vanlandingham believes the keys to overcoming the county's drug
issues are communication and education.

"We all need to work together," Vanlandingham said.