Blackmore: Heroin remains drug of choice

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Heroin is still the drug of choice for most local drug users, and that’s a serious problem, says Van Wert DARE Officer Greg Blackmore, because of the drug’s potency and the difficulty of getting users off the drug.

Blackmore said heroin has been Van Wert County’s biggest drug problem for 7-8 years, noting that Van Wert was one of the first Ohio cities to see the Mexican brown form of the drug that is now most prevalent in the state, largely because of its potency and low cost.

“It’s unlucky that we were one of the first cities to see the Mexican heroin,” the DARE officer said, noting that a local resident likely had an association with someone, probably in Dayton — where large amounts of the drug are coming into the state — and brought it here before it got to other communities.

Now, he noted, it’s everywhere.

The problem with heroin use, Blackmore noted, is the difficulty for users wanting to kick the habit to get off the drug.

“Out of all heroin users we’re seeing, only about 10 percent of those who go for rehabilitation are successful,” he said. “That’s scary right there.”

Blackmore said law enforcement efforts have been largely unsuccessful, even with increased efforts to publicize the dangers of the drug.

“You can put in big newspaper letters that heroin will kill you and cause a severe addiction, but people will still use the drug,” he said, although he added that won’t stop the local DARE organization from continuing to tell people how dangerous heroin is.

Moreover, while it is a good-faith effort to halt heroin use locally, Blackmore is also a little skeptical about how successful the new drug court/Vivitrol program will be in decreasing the number of local heroin users.

The DARE officer said he sees two problems with the Vivitrol program, with the first being the cost of the drug itself, while the second is the fact he sees Vivitrol as mostly a drug that users must take continuously to stay off heroin.

“I’m not sure it cures,” Blackmore said. “I feel it’s mostly a maintenance drug.”

He also said he feels the chances are good that users who decide to stop taking Vivitrol, either because of the high cost or because they miss getting high, will likely go back to heroin.

“If they decide not to take the drug (Vivitrol), the possibility of going back to heroin are high, in my opinion,” Blackmore added.

Furthermore, he noted the county is already seeing higher cocaine usage that he attributes to drug users on Vivitrol who want to get high, but can’t do so with heroin because they’re taking Vivitrol through the drug court program.

“I recently went to a recent BCI (Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation) seminar in Toledo where they said cocaine was coming back statewide as well,” Blackmore explained.

The DARE officer added that, from talking to the few heroin addicts who have managed to quit and stay off the drug, the key to doing so is a total lifestyle change.

“They say that, if you want to have a chance (to get off heroin) you need to cut all ties here and get away,” Blackmore explained.

For adults, the next most popular drug of choice is prescription medications, mostly pain medications of the opiate class (Vicodin, Oxycontin, etc.), although Ritalin use on college campuses is increasing, largely because of the drug’s ability to increase one’s ability to focus and retain information.

Blackmore added that actions by the medical community have made getting prescription drugs much harder to obtain; however, the downside of the inability to get prescription drugs is increased heroin use, he said.

There are some positives in looking at county drug use, Blackmore said. Spice use is decreasing, largely due to efforts by the Ohio General Assembly to make the ever-changing drug illegal, although the DARE officer did say that some local residents are likely still getting the drug online through Internet sales outlets.

The use of bath salts locally has pretty much disappeared, Blackmore noted, adding he believes the reason is the dangerous nature of the drug, which has been blamed for murders and severe brain disorders.

For youngsters, alcohol, marijuana and tobacco use are all decreasing, although the use of inhalants, often called “huffing,” has increased somewhat.

For teens ages 14-18, the most abused drug continues to be prescription pain medications, along with over-the-counter medications, such as cough syrup.

Blackmore also had mixed emotions about the proposed marijuana constitutional amendment now certified for the November general election. While admitting that making marijuana legal would allow law enforcement agencies to better concentrate on “hard” drugs like heroin and cocaine, the DARE officer also said legalizing marijuana would also create new legal problems — especially in trying to determine impaired driving — and the fact that marijuana could cause more health problems, since it combines the effects of alcohol and tobacco use.