DO YOU SEE THE HEROIN USERS?

Officials Say At Least 1,000 Heroin Users Permeate All Parts Of Porter County

Look around Porter County, and you'll find at least 1,000 heroin users.

They're sitting next to you at school, serving you fast-food, hanging
out at bars and restaurants with you -- or maybe even stealing from
your car at night. Heroin users are in every community in Porter
County, even the small rural ones, said Porter County Drug Task Force
Coordinator Robert Taylor.

"I think it's in probably all of them, some worse than others," Taylor said.

"There are quite a few people addicted to heroin in Chesterton.
Valparaiso's had their problems all along. Most of the deaths are out
of Valparaiso. Portage was low, but now it's coming back."

After years of denial, most communities now acknowledge they are not
immune to heroin's wrath, Taylor said.

The core group of heroin users are teens and people in their early
20s, Taylor said.

"The magic number for dying (from heroin) is usually 24," Taylor said.

Carmen Arlt, director of chemical dependency and addiction at
Porter-Starke Services Inc., said most heroin users she sees are
between 21 and 35 years old, although she has seen people as young as
14 and as old as their 60s.

"They're usually dead by then," she said of the older heroin users.

She said there used to be more men and boys taking heroin, but now
it's equal between the sexes.

Arlt knows there are currently 436 Porter County residents who travel
to Lake County to obtain the heroin-replacement drug methadone, since
methadone providers are required to share data with the state.

But in addition to those heroin addicts, there also are plenty of
others who have decided to continue using heroin instead of
methadone, who are in jail or who are in other forms of treatment.

Taylor estimates there are more than 1,000 heroin users in Porter County.

But Arlt estimates there are as many as 1,300.

Taylor said he once was able to track the county's heroin users
pretty accurately, and he said the county had 250 on heroin in 1999.
About 20 from that list now are dead. Many more are behind bars.

He since has lost track of the exact number.

"Every day, we hear of more and more (addicts) moving in here from
other places," Taylor said.