HEROIN IS MOVING TO THE SUBURBS

Death Toll From Drug Is Rising

Heroin, a drug that was little known in suburban Milwaukee as recently as
seven months ago, has made a sudden, deadly appearance, according to drug
abuse counselors and law enforcement officials.

"All of a sudden we are seeing a lot of heroin," said Deb DuFour, the
alcohol and other drug abuse case manager in Washington County's
Comprehensive Community Services Agency. "It seems like every week we have
at least one person on the ward for opiate withdrawal, and heroin is
starting to dominate."

The heroin showing up in the suburbs this year is cheap and concentrated
enough that users can smoke or inhale it rather than inject.

And it's starting to produce a death toll. Bill Counard, a 23-year-old West
Bend native, was found dead last month of a heroin overdose in a Newburg house.

It's also reaching younger users, high school age and even younger.
Christopher Koleski, 15, of Cedarburg was found dead in a Milwaukee house
in April with heroin and other drugs in his system.

"I know of three cases in Ozaukee County involving middle school kids using
heroin," said Mario Valdes, Mequon school liaison officer. "They were
around 13 years old."

"I don't think they have any idea how dangerous it is," he said.

Not having to inject the drug may have removed the stigma attached to it,
said Bob Sloey, director of operations for the state Division of Narcotics
Enforcement. Heroin seems to be more socially acceptable now that users can
inhale or smoke it as they would cocaine or marijuana.

And at $10 for a one-time dose, it's cheap to get, said Joan Kojis, a
clinical psychologist in Ozaukee County's Community Programs Department.

"A year ago, a gram sold for around $200. Now, a gram sells for between
$125 and $150," Sloey said.

The danger comes from its addictiveness. According to the National
Institute on Drug Abuse, the drug produces intense, pleasurable sensations
that can last up to four hours. Addicts craving the drug often die from
overdoses because the drug slows heart and breathing rates.

The uptick in heroin use noticed by authorities on the front lines - law
enforcement and drug abuse counselors - is so recent that it doesn't yet
show up in statistics on drug seizures tracked by state officials. Ozaukee
County Sheriff Maury Straub said he almost never dealt with heroin in his
county until this year.

A recent rise

State narcotics enforcement officials confirm there is an increase in
heroin use in southeastern Wisconsin.

"We recently did a drug use survey, and there has been an increase,
particularly in Waukesha and Walworth counties," Sloey said.

He bases his conclusion on a number of factors, including information from
law enforcement, health care and intelligence reports.

The fact that the number of heroin cases reported by local drug task forces
does not yet reflect the rise in the drug's use in the suburbs is not
unusual, said Ray Luick, an administrative officer with the state
Department of Justice Assistance. There is usually a lag between the time a
drug appears on the scene and law enforcement starts seizing large amounts
of it, he said.

But a statistical increase is evident in Milwaukee, where heroin use
started to increase in the past few years.

In 1998, a special task force seized about a pound of heroin in Milwaukee,
Sloey said. In 2001, 6.4 pounds were seized by the same task force.

In 2000 and 2001, there were 37 deaths from heroin overdoses in Milwaukee
County, according to state Department of Justice statistics.

"Imagine if there were 37 deaths from terrorist attacks," Sloey said.
"People don't seem to think deaths from drugs are as serious."

The State Crime Laboratory is also testing more substances to confirm
heroin cases.

In all of 1997, the crime lab tested and confirmed 61 drug samples as
heroin. In the first six months of 2002, the lab found 69 samples of the
drug. Sloey noted that those tests represent only part of the rise in
heroin use because the State Crime Lab is not involved in every case.

Debbie Counard doesn't need statistics to know there is a problem in the
suburbs - ever since she and her husband, Dale, discovered their son Bill
was a heroin addict.

"He was using for about four years, we know for sure," Debbie Counard said.
"He was introduced to it by a friend of his. Once you try it, you are
pretty much hooked."

She said the drug took over their son, who would fall asleep on his feet
with a lit cigarette in his hand.

"I have burn marks all through my house," Debbie Counard said.

Her son promised he would quit using the drug, but he could never seem to
stop, she said. Eventually, at their wits' end, the Counards kicked him out
of the house.

They still checked up on him, though, Debbie Counard said. And on June 14,
their son's body was found in a rundown house in Newburg.

"There was nothing we could do. We tried everything," Debbie Counard said.
"I would tell other parents they have got to be aware of what their kids
are doing."