Heroin Hooks Suburban Kids: MyFoxCHICAGO.com
Both Fox News Chicago and the Chicago Tribune have recently reported about the devastating effect of heroin on suburban teenagers and adults. Death by heroin overdose is a disturbing trend among teenagers and young adults in DuPage, Lake and Will counties. In 2010 in the western counties, nine users overdosed on drugs. In 2011 there were 94 reported overdoses.
The Tribune reports six people age 17 to 30 died in Naperville in the last year, and 30 had fatal overdoses in 14 towns in Will County. Tribune reporter Melissa Jenco reported on a forum entitled “Heroin: Stemming the Tide” at Wheatland Salem Church where Kimberly Groll, Alcohol and Drug Addictions Counselor from Care Clinics of Naperville advised parents, “You have a 50 percent chance of keeping kids safe and away from drugs if you educate your kids early and have that talk often.”
FOX Chicago News reporter Darlene Hill reports that the Eisenhower Expressway route to Chicago’s west side is also known as Heroin Highway. The specific unofficial neighborhood name is “K-Town” because of the street names of Kilbourn, Kildare, Kostner and Kolmar. There’s even more K-names, like Karlov, Keeler, Kilbourn and Killpatrick in the dangerous West Garfield neighborhood to the north, and the Lawndale neighborhood to the south.
On Monday, June 28, 2010, Roosevelt University’s Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy reported that the Chicago metropolitan region ranks among the worst if not the worst in the nation for heroin use and problems associated with heroin use.
The Chicago metro region, including the city, Cook County suburbs and the collar counties, had the most cases of people with heroin problems using emergency rooms in the nation from 2004-08 – a whopping 23,931 cases in all, which was 50 percent more than were handled in New York City, which ranked second, during the same period, according to an analysis of data from the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN).
See also …
FOX Chicago News Heroin Hooks Suburban Kids
Chicago Tribune Suburban parents told heroin growing problem in the ‘burbs
The Cardinal Chicago Metropolitan Region Ranks Among Worst in Nation for Heroin Use
More …
New Roosevelt University study paints grim picture of heroin users …
Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN)
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration — SAMHSA