Elmhurst police, schools crack down on teen heroin use

A couple hundred parents who attended a community forum at York Community High School in Elmhurst Sept. 10 learned that Elmhurst police and schools are cracking down on heroin use among teens after a student confessed late last school year to using the drug. 

Although she did not disclose numbers, York High School Principal Diana Smith told the crowd that the student also identified others who were using heroin. The school notified parents and the students were sent to drug rehab. No students were arrested.

The stereotypical image of an addict in a dark alley using a needle to shoot heroin into a vein is an image many people may have of heroin. But those leading the forum, including Elmhurst Police Chief Steven Neubauer, said the experience at York shows that some suburban youths are users and parents and teachers need to adjust their perceptions if they wish to curb the problem. The forum also was hosted by Immaculate Conception and Timothy Christian High Schools.

Neubauer said the number of people the police department has identified as using heroin since May through arrests or self confessions is fewer than a dozen. But there are likely more and the problem deserves attention, agreed Jim Kuchta, director of the DuPage Metropolitan Enforcement Group, a countywide organization of local, county and state police agencies that combats illegal drug trafficking.

“It’s safe to say every single community in DuPage Counth has kids using heroin," Kuchta said.

While he said other drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and Ecstasy are more popular among young people, Kuchta said there is an increase in use of heroin. He said that statistics show that one to two percent of high school students have used heroin.

“[Usage] peaks once in a while,” he said. “Unfortunately, now I think we’re starting to see one of those peaks.”

The notion that heroin has to be injected is incorrect. Kuchta noted that heroin can be snorted and that it does not take long for the body to become dependent on it. Purity ranges from 10 to 95 percent, but the average is 27 percent and it often is cut with other dangerous additives such as Strychnine and Fentanyl.

Neubauer said he wanted to bring the community together to acknowledge the problem which he said will take efforts from parents, teachers and law enforcement to tackle. Although he said there are few drug dealers in DuPage County, Chicago’s west side has open air drug markets that are easily accessible to teens.

As part of the crack down, the Elmhurst Police Department and 15 other law enforcement agencies conducted an investigation Sept. 3 on heroin use on the I-290 corridor which Neubauer dubbed the “heroin highway.”  They targeted motorists who purchased heroin in Cook County and then returned to DuPage County and drivers who were under the influence of drugs.

The officers made 16 felony arrests, recovering heroin, cocaine and marijuana and four driving under the influence arrests.

“As people came back to DuPage County, they were using it as they drove down the street,” Neubauer said. “Who would think? It was high noon.”

A 24-year-old woman who has struggled with a heroin addiction that started when she was in high school in Lemont also spoke at the forum. She recounted the heroin abuse caused two near-death overdoses, arrests, stealing to support her habit and how she became alienated from her family.

Her story made an impression on Anastasia Gliatis, 15, who attended the forum with her mother, Carol.

“That story was real,” she said. “It was not just someone’s second-hand story. It was raw.”

Another parent, Bonnie Jordan, who has two children who are seniors at York, said she wanted to attend the forum so that she could be better informed about the issue. She said she does not want to hide her head in the sand about it.

“I agree with the idea that knowledge is power,” she said. 

By Annemarie Mannion

Triblocal.com reporter