RETIRED INVESTIGATOR SAYS HEROIN, LSD USE GROWING IN POPULARITY

Gino Rebussini, a recently retired Rhode Island Department of Health
investigator, spoke on Friday concerning several different types of
illegal drugs as part of the weekly forensics lecture series.

Rebussini's talk focused on types and effects of specific drugs, and
also the criminal activities surrounding them. Specifically, he
focused on production and dealing.

Although Rebussini is staunchly against illegal drug use, throughout
the talk he was honest about why people were involved in them.

For example, Rebussini spoke frankly on the motivations behind these
activities: "People are getting involved because the money is very
big," he said, after listing the average selling price of marijuana
in Rhode Island.

Rebussini began his lecture with a quick run-down of sentencing
practices, going over the different factors that go toward the length
of a person's sentence. It depends, he said, on not only the drug,
but the specific amount; an ounce of cocaine or heroin, for example,
could justify up to 50 years in jail, while an ounce of marijuana
would be less.

Other factors include whether other crimes have been committed at the
time, and other, harder to predict variables: "It varies on the
judge, it varies on the system," Rebussini said.

Although parts of his talk was dedicated to legal aspects of drug
use, the majority dealt with the different types of drugs available.
Rebussini spoke not only on the more popular recreational narcotics,
such as marijuana and cocaine, but also on less well known ones, such
as dilaudid and ketamine.

The lecture also dealt with the changing trends among drug use.

Cocaine, for example, which Rebussini called "one of the most abused
drugs around," is beginning to lose ground to heroin. Not only is
heroin cheaper, it gives a longer high, and more people are using it
now. In the past, many people avoided the drug due to a dislike of injections.

Marijuana seems to remain extremely popular in the area, with the
Providence Police bringing in 1,500 to 1,600 marijuana-related cases a year.

"They're our biggest contributors," Rebussini said.

LSD is also taking an upswing in popularity, with its users generally
falling into the age range of 12-25. According to Rebussini, it is
being used primarily for date rape. The main benefit for the
manufacturers of the drug is the fact that LSD is colorless,
odorless, and the dosage is incredibly small.

"You could carry everyone's LSD in the country for a year on one
person," Rebussini said.

According to Rebussini, all LSD comes from the Hells Angels, but they
are notoriously difficult to break into.