Suburban Scourge: Essex County Battles Heroin's Tide

There was a time when heroin was a byproduct of inner city crime, evoking images of desperate, gaunt addicts wandering through parks and run-down neighborhoods looking for a fix.

That time has long passed.

Today, heroin is seeing a rise in suburban, more affluent communities, and it's spreading across Essex County.

Poison Tide

Statewide, heroin use has jumped dramatically. A 2011 report by the Massachusetts Department of Health & Human Services showed that between 1999 and 2009, the number of people over the age of 12 in treatment for heroin addiction in the state went from 28,804 to 38,594.

Exact numbers for Essex County relating to heroin use are not readily available, but Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said fatal heroin overdoses are on the rise. In 2010, he said, there were 23 fatal overdoses county-wide. In 2012, that number spiked to 56, and this year there have been 60 fatal heroin overdoses so far.

Those numbers, of course, don’t reflect non-fatal overdoses or general use.

“I have advocated for legislation to require hospitals to report opiate-related overdoses in real time,” Blodgett said, adding that the information would include demographic data only (age, gender and zip code) and would not be used to arrest people. “In this way, law enforcement can track where the heroin is coming from and we can immediately put our resources in that area.”

The heroin scare is nothing new to Blodgett, who’s been on the front line fighting the drug for 10 years. In 2003, Blodgett implemented a policy requiring all potential plea agreements with defendants charged with heroin trafficking or distribution be reviewed by himself or his senior staff to prevent heroin dealers from evading prosecution. That same year, Blodgett stepped up efforts to educate schools, parents and law enforcement about the threat of the once-urban drug.

And in almost every court in the county, there is a Drug Diversion Program, which allows non-violent drug offenders extensive substance abuse treatment as an alternative to traditional criminal court.

The New Dope

One barrier to educating the public has been the persistence of stereotypes. In quiet suburban communities, heroin has long been perceived as an inner city issue often read about in newspapers while sipping coffee.

And helping that stereotype was the syringe, often making non-users cringe. But methods of heroin use now vary almost as much as the people using it.

“For many people, they remembered a time when the typical heroin user was a ‘junkie’ living in the street,” Blodgett said. “Since then, heroin has become more pure which means it can be snorted and removes the ‘stigma’ of the needle." 

"Sadly, users ‘graduate’ to the needle,” Blodgett continued. “The drug cartels are very savvy about marketing their product. We did a lot of work to help people understand that this was not the heroin of the 1970s."

And in a sea of other available drugs -- including ecstasy, prescription narcotics and a new variety of designer drugs -- heroin may have lost its shock value.

With the availability of heroin and the new image its garnered, combatting the spread of the drug have required comprehensive efforts.

In Essex County, Blodgett has employed what he calls a “two-pronged approach.”

"Our primary mission is to prosecute crime," Blodgett said, pointing out his office’s aggressive fight against traffickers and dealers and treating users. "In addition, we have developed award-winning prevention programs to educate young people specifically about heroin and OxyContin in 2004.” Blodgett said. "This program (Choose to Refuse) is offered to all school districts and other youth organizations free of charge."

The Front Line

In North Andover, heroin arrests have not spiked, but police are working tirelessly to keep the wave of heroin from washing into town.

“I would say the number of arrests we’ve has been pretty consistent over the past few years,” North Andover Police Lt. Charles Gray said. “We notice that in communities in the area, specifically the city areas, there’s more of a problem with drug use, so our job in North Andover is to make sure that our community is safe from the problem. By doing that we engage in proactive police work, directed patrols and we look for community input with any problem areas that we can address sooner rather than later.”

Where is much of the heroin coming from? Largely right next door.

“We know that we sit next to Lawrence, and we know that the dealers come out of Lawrence to meet customers from other states off of 495,” North Andover Police Detective Daniel Cronin said. “That’s why you see some of the arrests that take place near there.”

One such area is Massachusetts Avenue near the Lawrence line. Last month, there were two separate heroin arrests at the same location on the same day. And both arrests involved defendants from New Hampshire and Maine.

“You can see that that happens all along the 495 corridor,” Cronin said. “Haverhill has the same issue on all those different spots and you’ll see them move from one area to another as we push it from our area up to Haverhill and Haverhill will push it back."

In the next part of this series, we will examine how local law enforcement is engaging the community to fight the spread of heroin.