FIGHTING HEROIN

Here Are Some Ways To Identify Drug's Use

On the night of Nov. 15, the parking lot surrounding the Plano Centre
looked like an overflow terminal at DallasFort Worth International Airport
on Christmas Eve. Within the Centre, 1,500 or so Plano residents had
gathered for a town hall meeting on heroin abuse. Their presence revealed
that some Plano residents will not live in denial about their community's
heroin problem.

Plano police Officer Rick Moore, a former undercover narcotics officer,
provided the crowd some revealing statistics. In 1995, he said, Plano
undercover officers made one heroin buy. In 1996, they made 38 heroin
purchases. This year, the narcotics officers have made 75 buys.

The parents, teachers and children attending the threehour community
gathering also left with several ways to help control the heroin spread.
These basic points stand out, and not just for Plano residents worried
about their teenagers. Heroin use is likewise spreading among young people
in Northeast Tarrant County.

* Make sure your child knows what "chiva" is. Believe it or not, Officer
Moore says, some teens don't even know they are taking heroin when a peer
or a dealer offers them a package of "chiva." That's the Mexican street
term for heroin, which some teens take unknowingly.

* Be alerted if the family coffee grinder disappears. Teenagers can use the
grinders to prepare heroin doses.

* Does your teenager suddenly have lots of gel caps around, maybe in her
purse or room or the bathroom? Packing heroin into gel caps has become a
popular way of packaging the drug among teens fearful of needles.

* Are different types of antihistamines showing up around the house?
Antihistamines are often used to dilute a heroin hit.

* Despite winter's imminent arrival, check to see whether your child always
wears long sleeves. Serious users wear long sleeves to cover their needle
marks or body bruises.

* Is your child apathetic? Losing his or her motor skills? Have really
small pupils? Forgetting little things? Letting hygiene deteriorate? Those
symptoms can suggest heroin use.

* Are your child's eyes always watery? Is his or her nose frequently runny?
Are their signs of vomiting, diarrhea, disturbed sleep patterns, loss of
appetite? Even goose flesh? Dr. Larry Patton, a Richardson addiction
specialist, says people experiencing a heroin withdrawal suffer those
symptoms.

* Be on the lookout for items related to drug use. Razor blades, small
rubber balloons, syringes and rubber bands often accompany drug use.

* Use your nose. Even when mixed with other substances, brown tar heroin
smells like vinegar.

* Be vigilant for signs of excessive alcohol consumption or any signs of
marijuana or cocaine use. Heroin can be the killer drug, but teens often
don't start with it. Alcohol, marijuana and cocaine are the "gateway" drugs
to heroin use. Research shows girls who use gateway drugs are 11 times as
likely to use harder drugs; boys are 29 times as likely.

Perhaps parents watching for these symptoms can head off more problems
before they develop. The lives of young people in the DallasFort Worth
metroplex depend upon their alertness.

YOU HAVE THE POWER

Live in Plano, and think drug deals may be occurring nearby? Call the new
Plano police hot line, (972) 461STOP. A telephone tip may save a drug
user's life.