PORTER COUNTY'S DRUG PROBLEM NEEDS AGGRESSIVE TREATMENT

The issue: Porter County's heroin problem

Our opinion: Community leaders have known about this for a long time.
Why hasn't more been done to implement the study's recommendations?

Eighteen months ago, a Roosevelt University report on heroin use in
Porter County issued a strong wake-up call for community leaders. The
time for hitting the snooze alarm was long past.

In terms of deaths per capita related to heroin or other opiate use,
Porter County ranks as one of the top 10 in the nation. The report
echoed what Robert Taylor, coordinator of the Porter County Drug Task
Force, has been saying for a decade.

Ten years ago, Taylor compiled a list of 250 names of suspected
heroin users. Looking at that list, he could see why community
leaders didn't want to acknowledge the problem. The users included
sons and daughters of community leaders.

But now the number of heroin users in Porter County is estimated to be 1,000.

Clearly, snoozing was the wrong response.

Since that important Roosevelt University study was released, there
have been meetings about ways to address the problem but few results.

Why hasn't more been done to implement the study's recommendations?

This week, LaPorte County was given the results of a similar
Roosevelt study that showed disturbing signs of increasing alcohol,
cocaine, opiate and methamphetamine use. Leaders there must
immediately tackle the problem and not wallow in denial the way
Porter County's leaders did for so long.

The January 2005 study by Roosevelt's Institute for Metropolitan
Affairs made some key findings:

* "Drug education programs in Porter County appear to be inadequate
or nonexistent. Researchers have found that virtually no drug
education programs exist past the elementary level."

And those that do exist are inadequate. As the report says, "the
'Just Say No' approaches, and programs such as D.A.R.E., have been
shown to be completely ineffective in decreasing drug use."

Tell children honestly that some drugs are worse than others, or else
they might not understand the risks they're taking when they move to
harder drugs like heroin.

This needs to be a top priority, but police and school officials have
been strangely quiet.

* "Increase drug court availability."

Treatment is more effective than simply locking up offenders. Porter
County received approval this year to start a drug court. Now work to
expand it.

* "Increase parental awareness of heroin use outside of central cities."

The series in The Times this week has brought a sharp focus on the
county's heroin problem. But outside that effort, not enough has been
done to drive home the severity of the problem and what to do about
it. Mere denial, as has been seen, doesn't work.

* "Increase availability for opiate substitution therapy."

This is the recommendation that has received the most attention. A
moratorium on new methadone clinics that had been in place since 1998
was eased by the General Assembly this year. Porter County has begun
the slow process of establishing a clinic so recovering heroin
addicts will no longer have to drive to Gary to receive treatment.

Aggressive treatment is needed not just for the heroin users
themselves, but for the drug problem as a whole.

A Cook County police investigator suggested Porter County needs a
30-man drug unit, split into two shifts. He was shocked to find
Porter County has only a three-officer drug unit.

Porter County's budget for animal control is more than six times that
of the drug unit's $44,000.

Think about what that says about priorities.

The Times' series is another wake-up call for the community. Let's
see more evidence of an appropriate response.