HEROIN, ON AND OFF PASSAIC COUNTY'S CORNERS

Denial is the main theme that emerges from a recent Herald News
investigation into the region's brisk heroin trade.

Reporter Andrew Glazer paints a disturbing picture of an underground
menace, long thought to be easily recognizable and far from home.

Suburban teens are traveling to Paterson to purchase some of strongest
heroin available in the United States, and urban treatment centers don't
have enough beds to help them heal once the drug has had its run.

The heroin for sale in Paterson today is a superior product in every way:
cheap, easy to use, devilishly addictive.

Users can achieve an injection-like high from simply snorting the drug,
avoiding the telltale scars of heavy drug use that once served as red flags.

The pristine appearance of its victims lends heroin its most devious
quality. High-school users blend in with everybody else, their daily trips
to Paterson to purchase the drug tough to trace physically or financially.

Four nostrils' worth, enough for a daylong high, costs just $40.

One Clifton mother thought heroin addicts were "someone on the corner,"
until a guidance counselor told her that her daughter, a pretty honor-roll
student, was hooked.

Beneath the surface, heroin is a cruel chemical.

When the body's supplies run low, addicts suffer vicious stomach pain and
headaches, and a ravenous desire for another hit.

Many addicts steal, sell drugs or walk the streets to fund their habit.

Half of the 1,800 inmates at the Passaic County Jail were charged with
drug-related crimes, Warden Charles Meyers estimates.

Combating the drug's popularity must take two forms. Communities must
educate children and parents about the new heroin, and elected officials
must increase funding for detoxification and treatment centers.

Last year, acting Gov. Donald DiFrancesco took a step in this direction,
opening recovery centers in Bergen, Gloucester, Monmouth, Morris and Ocean
counties.

But options for addicts are slim in Passaic County, where the number of
people who entered detox increased from 195 in 1997 to 256 in 2001.

There's a wait to enter detox at Barnert Hospital or Passaic Beth Israel
Hospital.

Access to treatment at the right time is the best way to help a heroin
addict kick the habit, according to Dr. George T. DeFerdinando, deputy
commissioner of the state department of Health and Social Services. Detox
centers provide a safe, supportive space where addicts can face withdrawal.

Doctors monitor chemical levels, while counselors get addicts ready for a
long period of psychological healing ahead. New Jersey pays detoxification
centers like Straight and Narrow $190 per addict, per night.

The state pays the Passaic County Jail about $60 per inmate, per night.

In this case, the bottom line won't be found on the bottom line.