Heroin ruining lives across Oakland

From The Oakland Press:

NOVI – It was a scene straight out of any parents’ nightmare. A father finding his son passed out, high on heroin, in the family bathroom.

“It’s misery,” said the father, who didn’t want to be named. “You never know where your kid is, if he’s alive. My wife and I found him passed out on the toilet. I had to check to see if his body was still warm.”

The risks of using heroin have gone up. Law enforcement officials say the manufacturers of the drug are producing stronger concentrations than what was hitting the streets in the past.

“We are hearing more about it because of its strength and potency, which is causing overdoses,” said Lt. Joe Quisenberry, commander of the county’s Narcotics Enforcement Team.

Troubled neighborhood

At least two families say the drug use is an epidemic in the Novi Meadows mobile home park off of Napier Road, south of Grand River Avenue.

A mother, who also didn’t want to be named, says she believes someone in the area is dealing the drug.

Her own son, a 19-year-old, has been arrested on a felony charge related to heroin after being released and placed into a rehab center for drug abuse.

“I know for a fact they hang out in two or three houses in here,” she said. “It’s out of control.

“Their lives are being ruined.”

The woman has lived in the mobile home park for the last 10 years and says she’s witnessed what was once a nice neighborhood fall into the hands of dope pushers.

“It used to be really nice,” she said. “I just want to walk up and down the street with a sign over my neck that says, ‘drug dealers go.’ ”

Novi police Detective Sgt. Matt Conquest said his police department, like many others, is seeing incidents involving heroin increase. He said they are also familiar with issues in that neighborhood and anything related to drugs they uncover is turned over to the narcotics division.

Novi police are part of a drug-fighting consortium of law enforcement agencies called South Oakland Narcotics/ Intelligence Consortium, or SONIC. The task force includes members of other local law enforcement agencies as well as federal, such as the Drug Enforcement Agency.

“We have had some concerns with that area but it’s not atypical from other areas in metro Detroit,” Conquest said.

One such community that recently had to tackle the issue of heroin was Lake Orion.

In December, police there announced the arrest of 24-yearold Chad Benson at an apartment in the downtown area on charges of possession of heroin with intent to deliver. In that apartment, police say they recovered 50 grams of brown heroin, cutting agents and electronic scales. There was also evidence he was packaging the heroin in wrappers for Starburst candy. He pleaded guilty to those charges and is awaiting sentencing in early April.

Lake Orion Police Chief Jerry Narsh said the recent increase in cases involving heroin, including two overdoses, were what resulted in the Dec. 8 raid of the apartment.

Despite convictions in that case, those two overdoses remain open investigations.

Narsh added that he knows heroin hasn’t been eradicated from their community either.

“It’s still here,” he said. “It has pushed it further underground. We have other investigations that are ongoing.”

Heroin funding terrorism

The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office has reported the number of heroin investigations in the county have increased from 29 in 2005 to 33 in 2006, 42 in 2007 and was approaching 40 so far in late 2008.

Despite the increase, the amount of heroin actually hitting the streets has been either increasing or decreasing in only marginal amounts, Quisenberry said.

“I would say the risks are higher now,” he said, adding that the number of cases handled by the task force is mostly consistent.

“It hasn’t reached the point where it will take over pot or cocaine as far as it’s being a drug threat and Novi is going to be a reflection of southeast Michigan,” he said.

The issue of heroin’s increased strength, however, goes to an international problem. Heroin, he said, is manufactured from poppy plants and is becoming the drug of choice in funding terrorism by factions in countries such as Afghanistan and Columbia. Called narco-terrorism, worldwide trends of terrorist factions are growing more and stronger poppy plants to fund their efforts.

Adding an even bigger risk is that addicts may not realize just what else is in the heroin. One such agent is the powerful painkiller fentanyl, which was pushed into the spotlight locally after an outbreak led to a number of deaths.

“The heroin hitting the street today is much more dangerous than it was five years ago, not because we are being flooded with it,” he said.

Sheriff Mike Bouchard said his own family has seen the destructive force of what heroin can do.

“Two friends of my daughter, really good families, have had kids die now with drug overdoses,” he said. “It is an equal opportunity pusher. I don’t care what the economic status.”

The ages of people experimenting with narcotics is also dropping, although law enforcement is attempting to alert young people to the dangers of drug abuse, he said.

“I think it’s going to be a constant battle,” Bouchard said. “Raising the white flag isn’t the solution either. We know in countries where it is legalized usage spikes and I don’t care if it’s illegal or legal. It’s destroying a life, which is not good for society.”

Is enough being done?

The father who found his son passed out in the bathroom says his son was sentenced to 30 days in jail after testing positive for drugs and will probably go to another rehabilitation center.

The last time his son had gotten out of rehab was when the family found him in the bathroom, he said.

The mother says her own son will end up back in a rehabilitation center once he’s released from prison.

Both parents say they believe more should be done than just continuing to arrest and fine their children.

“The county and the state is just out to keep nailing them as opposed to going after these damn dealers,” the father said, adding that his son wouldn’t say who was selling him the heroin.

Law enforcement officials counter the argument by saying they, too, have trouble getting addicts to confess to their dealer’s identity.

Another factor is that investigations into drug operations can take time as law enforcement collect evidence and set up sting operations, according to various police sources in Oakland County.

“Fear is a large aspect,” said Narsh about why many people refuse to cooperate. “It’s inherently violent and fueled by large amounts of cash.”

Bouchard said anyone with concrete information about drug operations should contact law enforcement and swift actions will be taken.

“We are executing raids every night,” he said. “We will add it to the list.”

Kicking heroin

Struggling with helping their sons through treatment is the only option for the mother and father in the Novi mobile home park.

However, those familiar with working at rehabilitation centers say the success rate for people addicted to heroin and opiates is very low.

Recent research shows that the new gateway drugs are not alcohol or marijuana, but the prescription painkillers in medicine cabinets, said Bart Anthony, owner and executive director of The Counseling Centre, P.C. in Bloomfield Hills. Anthony also teaches psychology at Lawrence Technological University and Wayne County Community College.

Where families can find hope is in drug courts, where the option of treatment rather than jail time can start the rehabilitation process, he said. Addicts sent to inpatient centers can work on the skills they need to cope with their addiction, Anthony said. Families of addicts must continue to support that person and educate themselves about the addiction and treatment in order to help that person find a life without drugs, he added.

However, Anthony, like others working to treat people with addictions, say it is up to an individual if they are going to live drug-free.

“Forcing someone into treatment isn’t going to work,” he said. “It really works when someone wants to make that change.”

To get help

Call the Counseling Centre at (248) 338-2988 or find other rehabilitation centers by logging onto the Michigan Department of Community Health’s Web page at www. michigan.gov/ mdch. You can also call them at (517) 373-3740.

To report drug activity in your neighborhood, call (888) TURN-1-IN.