HEROIN PLAGUE RETURNS TO HARM NEW GENERATION

It could be a search for blissful escape, peer pressure or merely thrill
seeking, but the temptation to use heroin is striking a growing number of
Texans.

Even casual playing with the high-powered opiate can have severe
consequences-quickly.

The story of Gina Plata Barton, as reported by the Express-News, brings the
harsh reality of heroin into focus.

Barton had no criminal record and a good job when she started using heroin
about a year and a half ago after her marriage failed.

Her addiction helped destroy her career, and she was arrested for
prostitution and possession of heroin. She died in jail on Halloween.

Authorities are waiting for lab reports to determine the exact cause.
Whether heroin officially killed her or not, it clearly led to her quick
demise and early death at age 30.

The ultimate rush became the ultimate fall. Along the way was misery.

Homelessness, half-way houses and getting kicked out of friend's apartment
because she couldn't stay clean were some of heroin's rewards.

Unfortunately, Barton wasn't just an isolated addict who couldn't handle
heroin.

A new generation is unaware of the drug's horrifying addictive power.

One counselor told the Express-News, "People I've talked to in screenings
are absolutely flabbergasted they got hooked as easily as they did."

Heroin overdose deaths have been rising in Texas during the 1990s. And
sharing needles used to inject the drug brings the risk of contracting HIV
and hepatitis C.

Heroin's seductive highs don't match the lows. They don't even come close.

Saturday, November 14, 1998

Checked-by: Don Beck