ADDICTION

Prison Bars Better Than Heroin's Shackles

Anyone who doubted the evils - and prevalence - of heroin should listen to
Ellen Kahler's story.

Kahler, of Laurelton, is the mother of Dawn, 19, who at one time excelled
in school and sports.

At one time.

Now Dawn is in jail - and Ellen is glad. It is not that Ellen really wants
her daughter in jail, but she knows being behind bars is better than being
on the streets using heroin.

Ellen described the harrowing changes Dawn experienced as a drug user. She
went from an active athlete to an active criminal. She has already served
probation for stealing from her employer.

"She loved being with her family and loved her nephews. When she was using,
she didn't care," Ellen said. "When I look at her today and the things she
has done, I know it wasn't Dawn - it was the addiction."

It was the addiction.

While the Kahler's pain is highly personal, the story is highly instructive
for the general public.

As the Kahler family learned to its shock and horror, heroin is here. While
heroin is an inanimate substance, parents should consider the drug as a
mind-altering trap laying in wait to steal their children. It is more of a
threat than the random - and relatively rare - child snatchers often
sensationalized in media reports. Heroin is the bogey man come to life in
powdered form, waiting to sink its teeth into the veins of young people.

When protecting a child from a monster, a parent would do almost anything,
or send their children almost anywhere to get them out of harm's way.

Ellen Kahler had to make that choice. She could have bailed her daughter
out of jail last week, but she knew the monster lurked menacingly close.
Ellen made the right - though excruciatingly difficult - choice. But it
still is a choice Ellen would rather not have made.

Parents, with the help of the larger community, need to realize that the
Kahler's monster is not a personal demon. It is a community-wide plague. It
is all too real, and all too ready to strike again.

It is time to break out the torches and pitchforks and chase the heroin
monster back to the shadows from which it came.