CHICAGO'S HEROIN CRISIS

Drug Sends More People to Emergency Rooms Here Than Anywhere in U.S.

Heroin abuse in the Chicago area has gotten worse over the last
decade, creating a crisis that is perhaps more extreme than anywhere
else in the country, Roosevelt University researchers conclude in a new study.

The report, to be released Monday, finds that the area has seen an
increase in people admitted to emergency rooms for heroin-related
problems. It now has more than any other metropolitan area.

Other trouble signs include soaring overdose deaths in the collar
counties, a high percentage of inmates at the Cook County Jail
testing positive for heroin and an increase in the number of people
injecting the drug.

"We're talking about people who aren't experimenting," said Kathleen
Kane-Willis, the researcher who co-authored the study.

The study offered no estimate of the percentage of area residents
using the drug, but a national survey shows that only 0.2 percent of
Americans have used it in the last year, compared with 10 percent who
have used marijuana and 2 percent who have used cocaine.

But because heroin has vast effects on public health and crime -- it
produces fatal overdoses, helps spread HIV and contributes to much of
Chicago's gang violence -- its use is a particular concern, and not
just in the city.

"It used to be that most heroin users were African-American males
from the Vietnam era," said Dan Bigg of the Chicago Recovery
Alliance, which runs a needle exchange program. "In the last 20
years, we've seen a shift to a much greater group, starting with the
18 to 24, suburban, Caucasian population."

While some experts say young white users typically begin by snorting
the drug, Kane-Willis found that nearly 3 in 4 end up as injectors.

"I think these young white users are into some of the thrill
experience," she said. "If you want the full thrill experience,
injection is the way to go."

Illinois' heroin problem is most acute around Chicago, but Lillian
Pickup, an administrator for the state's Division of Alcoholism and
Substance Abuse, said it has spread to more rural areas too. Coroners
around the state have reported a growing number of fatal overdoses, she said.

She said new efforts to distribute naloxone, an overdose-stopping
drug, could help to save the lives of heroin addicts across Illinois.
But with the state government slicing its budget, she said, it is
unlikely that more widespread, publicly funded treatment will become available.

The lack of treatment, Kane-Willis said, is ultimately what drives
the area's heroin problem.

"If there's (sufficient) availability, they don't go to the ER and
they don't go to jail," she said.