Heroin fueling crime

Bricks & Stacks

Bricks & Stacks

Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 18, 2011
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Location
North Side Pittsburgh
It's a drug fueling crime and killing kids, the addiction so powerful people will do anything to feed their habit.

"It's a long, dark, dark road."

At only 17 years old Amy is a recovering Heroin addict.

She says, "Eventually I was just like the gross junkies that I thought I would never be."

At 13-years-old the drinking and drugs started. The first time she did Oxycontin was at 16 on a school lunch break.

That led to heroin, a path an increasing number of Madison area teens are taking.

Amy says, "Just about anybody that I know from my old high school that is smoking weed and drinking, if you go up to them and ask if they have a connection to opiates they'd say yes and make a phone call."

One of the most dangerous opiates, heroin, has become a big problem for police.

MPD PIO Joel DeSpain says, "I'm reading reports on a daily basis of people overdosing on heroin."

Madison Police say the drug also fuels other crimes, endangering everyone.

DeSpain says, "We're seeing a lot of our thefts, our burglaries our robberies, they can be connected to other criminal elements but certainly some of those who are committing these crimes are heroin users who are desperate to get their next fix."

One of the most notorious cases is the parka bandit.

In 2009 20-year-old Justin Simpson was charged with seven felony counts of armed robbery after police say he confessed to several stick ups in order to fuel a 100-dollar a day heroin addiction.

Amy says, "I had friends that robbed gas stations and went to jail for it."

That kind of do anything attitude is one she knows well.

She says, "I sold all my clothes, like sold pretty much everything I had."

Chase Newman says, "You'll go by any means to get it."

Like Amy, Newman fell victim to Heroin's power.

He says, "There is no shock that the crime goes up. It just feels like it's just necessary to get the drug. I mean it's the only way you know how to live."

Newman is also a recovering addict, one who's lucky to be alive.

After already overdosing on Heroin twice in a year he did it a third time.

He says, "I think that was the one where I was closest to dying, just completely stopped breathing and stuff."

The narcotics and gang task force say last year was a record-setting year for Heroin-related overdoses and deaths countywide.

Newman says, "I within the last year had two good friends who overdosed and died. One of them was vice president of our class in high school, sports star."

In 2006, Madison Fire reported giving Narcan, a drug that can bring people back from an overdose, to 18 patients who were in theirs 20s.

By 2010, the figure jumped to almost 80 people.

Skye Tikkanen with Connections Counseling says, "We've seen kids be more and more susceptible to getting addicted to prescription drugs, prescription painkillers. From there the prescription pain killers get too expensive and they move to heroin."

Tikkanen, a counselor and recovering heroin addict herself, is working with Wisconsin Lawmakers to put a Good Samaritan Law in place, providing limited immunity for drug possession charges to those who call 911 when another is overdosing.

She says two states who've enacted the law have seen a decline in overdose deaths.

She says, "Their 911 responders are saying its making a huge difference. It's a common sense piece of legislation."
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Read more: http://www.nbc15.com/news/headlines/Heroin_Fueling_Crime_117290238.html
 
Tikkanen, a counselor and recovering heroin addict herself, is working with Wisconsin Lawmakers to put a Good Samaritan Law in place, providing limited immunity for drug possession charges to those who call 911 when another is overdosing.
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This is the only part of this article I liked, this should be a fuckin federal law. I didn't realize 2 states were already doing it, but like they said, it seems pretty common sense. Keep cops from responding to OD's with the full intention of lockin somebody up.
 
Wow, sounds exactly like how I started into heroin, and I am sure it's the same for many others on here, sad story that is. It's a shame that kids get started on it so young but I really don't see a way to stop it. This girl had seen junkies before she became one so she knew the risks.

On a related note, the entire world should have Good Samaritan laws in place, you shouldn't be charged with a crime for saving someone's life.
 
Some sad stories, but the last part about the Good Samaritan Law is great. Talk about harm reduction! There's hope for this country yet :)
 
if only heroin/opiates/painkillers were in a legal, open environment. the amount of sheer existential suffering among drug users, and financial and emotional costs to non drug users... ugh.

prohibition only continues due to excessive ignorance, irrational moral forces, and financial forces. it's one of the most disgusting manifestations of the human race today...
 
Heroin doesn't fuel crime, at least not by itself.
The illegality of heroin fuels crime.
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This is the bottom line, and can be said for all illicit substances.

if only heroin/opiates/painkillers were in a legal, open environment. the amount of sheer existential suffering among drug users, and financial and emotional costs to non drug users... ugh.

prohibition only continues due to excessive ignorance, irrational moral forces, and financial forces. it's one of the most disgusting manifestations of the human race today...
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more.
 
They should immediately make that a law. OD deaths caused by people not wanting to get in trouble seems very likely-especially if said people are intoxicated. Safety is way more important imo.
 
man, i hate when they post these stories that are tryna show how bad and "desperate" these kids are, and the examples they use are a girl that didnt even use dope for a whole year, and a kid who had a "100 dollar a day" habit. In places like this, thats a bundle at the most, and with the prices some of these kids pay Id be willing to bet that for lots of feens out there, they get even less for that (I know it aint done in bags out there, and prolly come from Chicago, but they got a slightly similar system out there with the blows n jabs and the pricing aint the same but its proportionate).

Im just sayin, If you wanna do the "extreme shock value" shit, try to use some examples of addicts who are actually the "hard core" junkies, not some fuckin high schoolers who sniffed dope for 4 months til their parents found out or kids who use the amount that most junkies use in one shot, during their entire day. Doin more dope, for longer aint some kind of cool thing. But im just sayin. You want to make this point like " ooh! How horrible!" then get some long term dope shooters who shoot up a bundle at a time and shit like that. And yea, they want to profile young ppl, well theres plenty of kids I knew that was like that at age 20, 21, 22, shit I was. Kids who got arrested over n over, who got hit with felonies, who OD'd more than once, who shoot 30 bags a day, who live scummy , spent time on the street, etc.

I hope it dont come off like Im encouraging that or playin the whose addiction is worse dick sizing game. That aint the point, its that these shock value stories constantly pop up, and then the worst example of the "horrible heroin problem" that they can come up with, is kids who barely even got an addiction, you feel me? Do they honestly think thats as bad as it gets, it makes me want to give them a reality check like yo if you think THATS a problem in your neighborhood dont even COME out here or youll REALLY be buggin about the "heroin epidemic."

Yea, its a problem if people is dying no doubt. they got people dyin there and that shit aint good. But if the worst examples of young addicts you can find in your neighborhood is kids like they wrote about in this article , at least be thankful for that, cuz places like out here in Jersey and NY, chicago, bmore, places like that, the kids that age are already in jail, dead, homeless, etc, shootin dope in their neck and shit cuz all their veins busted, n yall know the rest.

I hope this shit aint comin off the wrong way. Like I said. Theres always somebody glorifyin this shit and I aint that person but it just pisses me off when i see these stories about these so called horrible , low as you can go junkies and they are like 18 year old kids who got clean after 8 mos, kids who do 7 bags a day, etc. Its like on Intervention when they show the kids who do like a half a gram of dope a day and then they be like "This is the worst, most intense, harcore addiction we have ever dealt with!" You know wat Im sayin?


Anyways....At least its good to see publicity for the good samaritan law. Im with yall, cosign 100% that it should be a law everywhere, and its suprizing to me how uncommon it actually is. shits sad. They got a good samiritan law out here in jerz for underage drinking, but not one for dope, and dope is a much bigger problem out here. people are mad backwards. So im glad somethin positive is gettin some shine in the article even if its one step forward 2 steps back with the silly-ass idea of "terrible addiction" they are paintin here. They dont want to know how much worse it gets....
 
heroin will always fuel crime, im an addict myself for 3yrs now of 2-3 bundles a day and i can testify that i will do whatever i have to do to get my dope

edit: im from camden nj
 
Heroin doesn't fuel crime, at least not by itself.
The illegality of heroin fuels crime.
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I dont know man, even if heroin was legal people still need money to get their dope. Maybe the answer is to void money, the root of all evil.
 
bagochina said:
I dont know man, even if heroin was legal people still need money to get their dope. Maybe the answer is to void money, the root of all evil.
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heroin was 100 times cheaper when it was illegal.

prohibition drives drug prices up by an unimaginable degree. that's why prohibition ironically creates an utterly vicious and unstoppable black market.

legalize and make heroin a medical issue and less young adults try the drug (stats from euro countries).

.....in a legal environment, without prohibition or legal bullshit, a dose of heroin is literally a couple pennies.
 
When I read things such as this, 17 yo "recovering heroin addict", my mind goes to the place that says, this is just the beginning for her. I would hope that it isn't so, but with heroin, I fully understand what chronic, relapsing disease really means. I know that it is very a small percentage that achieves any kind of long term, meaningful recovery from this drug.

Maybe it's just me who thinks this way, but when I hear some of my addict "friends" say, I'm doing much better; I'm down to 1 bundle a day. That means nothing to me. They are just fooling themselves thinking as if they have it under control. We all know where that goes.

I guess all I can say to this whole article is that they should have seen this coming, god knows I did and I'm nobody. The DEA and law enforcement are the ones with all the technology at their fingertips knowing whats coming in and being used at any point in time.
 
youngna said:
heroin will always fuel crime, im an addict myself for 3yrs now of 2-3 bundles a day and i can testify that i will do whatever i have to do to get my dope

edit: im from camden nj
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When you you say you will do anything to get your high, do you plan out what you're gonna do, say for instance commiting a crime or what not or is it impulsive? Ive never done heroin & hope I never try it but from what I have seen by others that get to a point like you, where they need it no matter what the consequences, its usually an impulsive crime, is this true?

Just trying to figure out if the heroin addiction takes away all common sense, like planning it.
 
^ it doesn't take away common sense (well, maybe if you're delirious in severe withdrawal, or nodding out dreaming; but that's with any drug) but the withdrawal makes you so sick (physically and mentally) that there isn't much many wouldn't do to end the existential crisis. personally, a somewhat secure financial status meant i didn't have to deal with any of those ethical issues... and if legalization takes place and we're honest about these drugs, others won't have to face those issues either.

btw, if you've popped a couple of vicodin or tramadol, it's not much different (psychopharmacologically) (<--long word) from heroin. the mu opioid receptor is the mu opioid receptor. you actually have morphine naturally produced in you, as a neurotransmitter, and (heroin converts to morphine in the body when you take it, and the morphine is what gets you high from heroin..)
 
^not true. The withdrawal from somebody who " pops a couple vicodin or tramadol" aint nothing remotely even slightly close to intense heroin withdrawal, especially IV. somebody whose dopesick off a good size iv habit is waaaaaay more likely to do shit they normally wouldnt do than somebody kickin a vicodin habit or some shit like that.
 
lacey k said:
^not true. The withdrawal from somebody who " pops a couple vicodin or tramadol" aint nothing remotely even slightly close to intense heroin withdrawal, especially IV. somebody whose dopesick off a good size iv habit is waaaaaay more likely to do shit they normally wouldnt do than somebody kickin a vicodin habit or some shit like that.
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i use heroin but don't IV it, and many others do as well, though, that's what i was talking about. if you IV, sure, WD is more harsh.
 
lacey k said:
man, i hate when they post these stories that are tryna show how bad and "desperate" these kids are, and the examples they use are a girl that didnt even use dope for a whole year, and a kid who had a "100 dollar a day" habit. In places like this, thats a bundle at the most, and with the prices some of these kids pay Id be willing to bet that for lots of feens out there, they get even less for that (I know it aint done in bags out there, and prolly come from Chicago, but they got a slightly similar system out there with the blows n jabs and the pricing aint the same but its proportionate).

Im just sayin, If you wanna do the "extreme shock value" shit, try to use some examples of addicts who are actually the "hard core" junkies, not some fuckin high schoolers who sniffed dope for 4 months til their parents found out or kids who use the amount that most junkies use in one shot, during their entire day. Doin more dope, for longer aint some kind of cool thing. But im just sayin. You want to make this point like " ooh! How horrible!" then get some long term dope shooters who shoot up a bundle at a time and shit like that. And yea, they want to profile young ppl, well theres plenty of kids I knew that was like that at age 20, 21, 22, shit I was. Kids who got arrested over n over, who got hit with felonies, who OD'd more than once, who shoot 30 bags a day, who live scummy , spent time on the street, etc.

I hope it dont come off like Im encouraging that or playin the whose addiction is worse dick sizing game. That aint the point, its that these shock value stories constantly pop up, and then the worst example of the "horrible heroin problem" that they can come up with, is kids who barely even got an addiction, you feel me? Do they honestly think thats as bad as it gets, it makes me want to give them a reality check like yo if you think THATS a problem in your neighborhood dont even COME out here or youll REALLY be buggin about the "heroin epidemic."

Yea, its a problem if people is dying no doubt. they got people dyin there and that shit aint good. But if the worst examples of young addicts you can find in your neighborhood is kids like they wrote about in this article , at least be thankful for that, cuz places like out here in Jersey and NY, chicago, bmore, places like that, the kids that age are already in jail, dead, homeless, etc, shootin dope in their neck and shit cuz all their veins busted, n yall know the rest.

I hope this shit aint comin off the wrong way. Like I said. Theres always somebody glorifyin this shit and I aint that person but it just pisses me off when i see these stories about these so called horrible , low as you can go junkies and they are like 18 year old kids who got clean after 8 mos, kids who do 7 bags a day, etc. Its like on Intervention when they show the kids who do like a half a gram of dope a day and then they be like "This is the worst, most intense, harcore addiction we have ever dealt with!" You know wat Im sayin?


Anyways....At least its good to see publicity for the good samaritan law. Im with yall, cosign 100% that it should be a law everywhere, and its suprizing to me how uncommon it actually is. shits sad. They got a good samiritan law out here in jerz for underage drinking, but not one for dope, and dope is a much bigger problem out here. people are mad backwards. So im glad somethin positive is gettin some shine in the article even if its one step forward 2 steps back with the silly-ass idea of "terrible addiction" they are paintin here. They dont want to know how much worse it gets....
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I totally hear you lacey.... I agree completely. It's not to say people who don't get to that level aren't addicted either... but the article should have kind of drawn a picture that would have more properly illustrated the different levels people get into it.

... said:
I think if nobody had taught me to steal for dope, then I'd never have stolen for dope. I came up in Jersey too and I think hustling may be a cultural thing.
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No one had to teach me how!!! =D I'm a self made man. ;)
 
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