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316 Ods Why Are So Many Junkies Dying?

316 Ods Why Are So Many Junkies Dying? image 316 Ods Why Are So Many Junkies Dying? image 316 Ods Why Are So Many Junkies Dying? image 316 Ods Why Are So Many Junkies Dying? image
Parent Issue
Day
5
Month
February
Year
1976
OCR Text

316 ODs
 

Why Are So Many Junkies Dying?

By Pat Heron

As if the cost of heroin addiction wasn't already high enough, both for the user and the community, record numbers of Detroit's junkies are now paying with their lives.

According to City Health Department figures, deaths related to opiate overdose or addiction totaled at least 316 last year. That unprecedented number represents an increase of 60 per cent plus over 1974- which, in turn, brought a similar increase over the 1973 total (see graph, p.4).

continued on page 4

The central city's battle for survival is made more desperate by banks who deny loans in "redlined" areas. Economic hard times may now be driving large numbers of Detroit 's heroin addicts to suicide.

Why Did 316

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The death rate took a terrific jump in July 1973, tripling from the previous month, and nearly tripled again from June to August 1975, in which month at least 46 junkies left the world. About 80 per cent of the victims are black; they average between 26 and, 28 years of age.

What is it that's causing this incredible waste of young lives? Sadly, we don't really know yet. But Detroiters close to the scene have a lot of ideas. T

he Health Department's reports note than "an increased number of overdose deaths caused by a particular drug or class of drugs is one generally accepted indication of increased usage of that drug in the community at large." There are strong suggestions, however, that some or all of the increase may be due to the increased strength and purity of opiates presently on the market, thus causing more deaths when the unsuspecting junkie shoots up the more potent mix.

Several sources interviewed in various parts of the city support this theory. Harry Banks, a drug counselor at the Nardin Park Substance Abuse Treatment Center in Detroit, says that while the quality of drugs available has always been regional (that is, the further you go from the downtown area, the better the dope you can get), there seems to be purer heroin available everywhere now than there has been in years.

Several ex-addicts and current users interviewed by the SUN also agreed that heroin quality is at a higher level, but not all of these "street people" were content with this fact alone as a rationale for the upsurge in deaths.

As Mike, a 28-year-old unemployed black man, says, "Yeah man, you can call me a junkie, 'cause that's what I am, but people have to stop thinking that junkies are stupid. We ain't stupid. When the quality of stuff in the streets goes up, the price goes up, too. And unless you're very new to the drug scene, you know how to adjust the amount of dope you're using according to its heroin content and your drug tolerance level. So when more people are overdosing than ever before, there's other reasons behind it."

Mike goes on to discuss two friends of his who have OD'd in the past six months, calling their deaths suicides. And he suggests that a large percentage of the reported deaths due to drug overdose are, in fact, outright suicides.

Mike's friend Sandra was using heroin for about ten years, and until she was laid off during the massive auto industry layoffs of late 1974, was able to support her habit and live a reasonably comfort-

"It's becoming more and more dangerous to shoot heroin in  Detroit. Each time a junkie shoots up he or she is gambling with a life. Theoretically, a number of investigated OD's turn out to be people OD accidentally, but more probable suicides."

Junkies Die? 

able lifestyle- which included maintaining an apartment for herself, and for Mike (when he was "into being with her").

"But things changed, man, after she got laid off. She started having money problems, she lost her apartment and took to the streets to support her habit." According to Mike and several others who knew her, Sandra was giving some overt signals to them which indicated she was tired of living. Mike attributes this to the fact that she had lost her job, lost her apartment, and was now a "down-and-out junkie." She didn't OD accidentally, and while theoretically, a number of people do, more and more investigated OD's turn out to be probable suicides.

As a number of authorities in the field suggest, each time a junkie shoots up, he or she is gambling with their life. That pleasant rush through the veins as the plunger is squeezed is often followed by the jolt that accompanies the entry of strychnine into the bloodstream. This sends the junkie into a "nod" that, for some, results in a permanent "nod" or death. It's a generally pleasant exit from a not-so-pleasant existence; the normally anticipated escape from reality becomes a permanent escape from life.

"I support the suicide theory strongly," says Ron, an ex-addict currently enrolled in the Model Neighborhood methadone maintenance program. "I've been in situations where a buddy of mine is OD'ing. We try to pull him or her out of it, and when we succeed, they get pissed off at us because we've ruined their beautiful high. We've destroyed their escape. As nice as that high can be, man you don't want to come back to face the shit you've got to put up with on a day-to-day basis."

Ron talks about the hustling a junkie has to do just to get enough dope to be "cool," to maintain normal functioning. More than just getting high, it becomes an effort to sustain oneself at a functional level of addiction. And with the economy in as bad shape as it is, the junkie, who occupies the rock bottom of the social scale, suffers even more acutely.

Purer, higher-priced heroin is naturally more difficult for the down-and-out inne rcity junkie to get. And the futility of hustling on a daily basis to support that habit lends considerable credence to the theory that more of these people are taking the "easy way out"- suicide, chosen consciously or not so consciously.

It has become more profitable to do business with wealthier heroin users, according to several sources, and their numbers are increasing. George, a dope dealer in business in metropolitan Detroit for the last ten years off and on, agreed to an anonymous

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 Heroin O.D.'s

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anonymous interview with the SUN via special telephone arrangements. He says it's now more profitable to deal in the better neighborhoods of Northwest Detroit, Southfield, Oak Park, and even Somerset and Birmingham. But as George says, "As long as people have the cash, no matter where they are, they can get the stuff."

George, a middle-level pusher, estimates his 1975 income at $50,000 to $60,000, tax free. He also claims to be involved in a legitimate business venture.

Sam, a drug counselor in Detroit and an ex-addict, sees a larger pattern behind the rising OD rate. He says the controlling forces in the drug world are under orders to "up the quality" of street dope, thus increasing the number of overdoses and focusing public attention on junkies and crime-and keeping it off high-level government and business corruption.

He points out that the rising death rate helps exacerbate the gap between the inner city and suburbia- a gap which, he explains, is mythical, since heroin use is on the increase in the suburbs. So is alcoholism, he adds- another drug habit which has a significant relationship to crime.

Although Sam can offer no hard proof for his conspiracy theory, it's widely accepted that the amount of heroin on the streets of Detroit increased sizeably with the rise of black political activism, especially following the rebellion of 1967. And the increase in OD's does parallel the Mayoral campaign, and subsequent election, of Coleman Young, ushering in Detroit's first black city administration.

Conspiracy or not, Dr. John Nolan of the Health Department's Division of Epidemiology, links the increase in opiate-related deaths to what he believes is an unknown contaminant in the heroin currently being sold-possibly an allergen of some sort. Dr. Nolan, who stands firmly behind his theory despite the disagreement of many of his colleagues, points out that death from heroin overdose is a relatively recent phenomenon.

"Until about 1948," says Dr. Nolan, "heroin users never died as a result of their habit, unless they nodded out and fell out of a window. They would usually just burn out at the age of 35 or 40 and go to alcohol. Now, suddenly, everyone is dying from it."

Dr. Nolan, who has numerous responsibilities beyond researching the overdose rate, points out that gathering information on the quality and ingredients of street junk is a difficult process. He's hoping to get federal funding for a mass spectrophotometer for the Health Department, a $150,000 machine capable of breaking down every element of a drug sample. Hopefully, this kind of analysis might offer some clues as to the unknown contaminant Dr. Nolan believes to be behind the deaths.

In summary, it appears that the increasing number of opiate-related deaths in Detroit is likely to be linked to a combination of factors: economic hard times; increased purity of available drugs; and intentional or unintentional contamination of drug shipments. Whatever the relative weight of these factors, it's inescapable that in Detroit today, it's becoming more and more dangerous to shoot heroin. And despite the efforts of law enforcement and methadone clinics, the plague shows no signs of abating.

Pat Heron has worked with alcoholics and drug addicts for the past four years. He is presently working and studying at the Merrill Palmer Institute in Detroit.