HEROIN HAS FIRM HOLD ON NORTHWEST INDIANA

People who come in contact daily with heroin addicts say heroin use has
reached epidemic proportions in Porter County.

"I'd have no problem saying it's epidemic and I'd be ringing the bell of
alarm," said Rocco Schiralli, president of the Community Action Drug
Coalition.

"We've got big trouble here with this. This is a horrible problem that's
really devastating our community," said Schiralli, who also works as vice
president of programming for Porter-Starke Services.

Lake County is also struggling.

"(Heroin) is making a tremendous comeback," said John Jelks, commander of
the narcotics vice unit in Gary.

"Unlike in past years, heroin has become a lot more readily available," he
said. "That availability has affected the price and quantity."

Awareness of the issue has increased since the late-1990s when heroin came
to the forefront.

"Several years ago, you'd have those conversations and they'd be shocked,"
Schiralli said. "Now when we have those conversations with people, there's
less shock."

"They personally know a family member or friend who's experienced addiction
in their household," he said.

Community leaders are beginning to talk about the issue.

At Chesterton's last Town Council meeting, two board members urged the
community to stand together and combat illegal drugs.

The Community Action Drug Coalition, formed several years ago in the wake of
revelations that heroin was becoming a favorite drug with Porter County
youths, is raising money and developing a plan for a men's residential
treatment center.

"This was a gap in treatment, a need that needed to be filled," Schiralli
said.

When complete, the center would offer a full range of services to men
struggling with addiction.

A residential treatment center for women already exists in Valparaiso.

Bob Taylor, coordinator for the Porter County Drug Task Force, sits at the
front lines of a growing wave of heroin addiction.

"The ages are dropping lower," Taylor said. "I had a mother call me today
saying that some of the junior high kids are talking about trying heroin."

On the street, a dime bag of heroin sells for between $10 and $20.

"Any kid can come up with $20," he said.

Taylor's first inkling that heroin had hit Porter County was in 1995.

"This whole county is infested at this point, as far as I'm concerned,"
Taylor said. "Valpo has a problem, Chesterton has a problem and Portage has
a problem."

In 2002, Taylor's drug task force arrested 134 people on drug charges. In
2003, 172 people were arrested for drugs. And for 2004, already 52 people
have been arrested in the county on drug-related charges.

"I continue to have calls every day. I continue to have people complaining
about what looks like drug activity in their neighborhoods," Taylor said.
"We don't have the manpower or support to deal with it."

In 2003, the Gary narcotics squad recovered more than 3,000 dime bags of
drugs. A third of them contained heroin, Jelks said.

Youths from south Lake County and Porter County frequently come to Gary for
their drugs, he said.

"The majority are for crack cocaine, but we do still have (them) coming in
looking for heroin," he said.

Carmen Arlt's phone has been ringing off the hook lately with crisis calls
for heroin addicts.

Arlt, the director of chemical dependency and addictions for Porter-Starke,
has worked with heroin addicts for 30 years.

"This trend isn't really something new. It's always been here. We're hearing
more about it," Arlt said. "This is considered a drug corridor from Chicago.
It's not amazing or surprising that there's an increase in this area."

"Now you can just smoke it and nobody knows it," Arlt said. "It's the hip
thing to do. It's the cheap thing to do. If you have $10, you have enough to
get three people high."

Arlt is seeing more and more people between 17 and 21 struggling with
heroin.

"A lot of high school kids all of a sudden," Arlt said. "They say their
friends have it. They think it's cool. They don't think they're going to get
addicted."

The availability of few treatment options complicates the problem, Arlt
said.

"There's no treatment for heroin addiction in this area," she said.

Discovery House, a methadone clinic in Gary that treats heroin addicts,
needs to expand, according to Walter Fillmore, program director.

Six years ago, the clinic was handing out methadone to 95 people a day.

Currently, it dispenses the drug to 150 patients, although not all of them
are addicted to heroin.

"We're going to have to knock down a wall to get the suite next to us,"
Fillmore said.

The clinic doesn't advertise; people learn of it by word-of-mouth.

While heroin addiction once reigned, a majority of the Discovery House
patients are currently addicted to prescription drugs, Fillmore said.

"Most of the youngsters that come in are heroin addicts. The older people
are prescription drug addicts," he said.

Success at the Discovery House is measured not by how many people overcome
their addictions but by the number of people who are trying to stop.