On the verge of a crisis: Heroin addictions and overdoses on the rise in Columbus
When other 16-year-olds were focused on driving, dating and Disney, Joseph Sibold was already selling heroin in his community.
“Where I was, in Apopka, Fla., heroin wasn’t really a prominent thing; it was cocaine,” said the Muscogee County Jail inmate during an interview with the Ledger-Enquirer. “So what me and my cousin did is we brought heroin from Orlando to my little town in Apopka and started selling it, and it just blew up.”
Now 35, Sibold said he is the oldest of five brothers and that his heroin business led not only to his addiction, but also to the addiction of his siblings. He has seen the drug ruin lives, he said while sitting in a medical examining room at the jail, and he wants it out of his life.
“It’s not like cocaine where you mentally think that you have to have it, or methamphetamine where you use it for sexual reasons, to be aroused, or to have energy to complete the day, or whatever,” he explained.
“Heroin is physically addictive. If you’ve done it for anywhere over three weeks, when you take it away, you’re going to be sick. You need it, you’ll kill for it. I’ve known people who killed for it.”
Sibold’s experience represents a growing problem in Columbus and across the nation.
Heroin -- popular in the 1970s before cocaine, crack, prescription drugs and methamphetamine became so ubiquitous -- is making a comeback due to a national crackdown on prescription drugs, according to the National Institutes of Health. The increased numbers are mainly among young adults ages 18 to 25, who are oblivious to its dirty reputation.
“Although heroin use in the general population is rather low, the numbers of people starting to use heroin have been steadily rising since 2007,” writes Nora D. Volkow in a report for the National Institute on Drug Abuse, of which she is director.
“This may be due in part to a shift from abuse from prescription pain relievers to heroin as a readily available, cheaper alternative and the misperception that highly pure heroin is safer than less pure forms because it does not need to be injected.”
(Hover over or tap graphics to learn more about the effects of heroin)
The impact
Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan said he’s seeing the results of the growing heroin crisis at the morgue.
In the Columbus area, the number of heroin/morphine overdoses jumped from just three cases from 2011 to 2013 to nine cases in 2014 alone, according to statistics provided by the coroner’s office.
That’s a 200 percent increase.
So far, there have been four confirmed heroin/morphine overdoses in 2015, and another six cases are still pending toxicology reports from Atlanta, Bryan said. He expects the final tally in 2015 to exceed the 2014 number.
The two drugs are placed in the same category because heroin comes from morphine and sometimes morphine shows up in toxicology reports associated with heroin addiction, Bryan said.
“I can honestly say that we are seeing an increase in heroin overdoses,” he said. “I believe the metro drug enforcement here in Columbus are very well aware that there’s a problem. My understanding is it’s coming in from Mexico.”
Sgt. Roderick Graham said the Columbus Police Department also is seeing the numbers increase.
He said there were no arrest statistics readily available.
“The Columbus area has seen an increase in heroin as opposed to previous years,” he said. “Heroin use, and heroin arrests, and almost anything associated with heroin, it’s up in the United States, and of course Columbus is the same as well.”
Lt. Debra Bohanon works for the Metro Narcotics Taskforce, which includes officers from five law enforcement agencies in the area -- the Columbus Police Department, the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Department, the Russell County Sheriff’s Department, the Harris County Sheriff’s Department and the Phenix City Police Department.
She said local law enforcement began noticing a few cases in 2010, and then the numbers started rising in 2013.
“We didn’t see heroin that often, then 2013 until now we have seen heroin make a drastic comeback in this area,” she said. “If you did it by the numbers, you’re still going to see more marijuana and cocaine. But when you go from seeing one or two heroin cases a year to seeing 32, 59, to me that’s a huge increase.”
She said the cost of prescription drugs has gone up over the years because of the demand, which is causing many people to turn to heroin because it’s cheaper.
She said 1 gram of heroin costs about $275, compared to prescription drugs, which cost $10 to $80 per pill, depending on the medication.
The agony
Heroin is a highly addictive opiate processed from morphine, a natural substance extracted from the seed pod of some poppy plants, according to the NIH report.
It is usually “cut” with sugars, powdered milk, starch or quinine.
In its pure form, it is a white powder with a bitter taste that can be snorted or smoked.
But there are other varieties on the market. Black tar heroin, for example, is an impure version of the drug that is dissolved, diluted and injected into the veins, muscles or under the skin.
Paul Morris is health services administrator at the Muscogee County Jail. He said he saw little to no heroin addicts when he started at the jail 15 years ago, but in the past three years it has increased to where he’s seeing heroin addicts practically every day.
He believes Columbus is on the verge of a heroin crisis that could have a profound impact on the community if authorities don’t get it under control.
“I’ve done this for a long time, and for me, I’ve seen every kind of drug that people take,” Morris said. “The first years of my doing this, the vast majority of what I saw was crack and cocaine, and people didn’t do well with it.
“Then came a huge volume of prescription medicines and (they) were so plentiful and so good and accessible that they essentially pushed out heroin entirely. Then methamphetamine showed up in large volumes and it was relatively easy to make, very potent and cheap.
“But heroin is not like other drugs,” he said. “It steals people’s will and it seems to steal their soul.
“It takes their body and it secretively and progressively, without their even noticing it, wastes it away until one day -- and it doesn’t take long -- they wake up and because they can’t get heroin right now, they see what they’ve done to themselves and their body is ruined.”
He said the withdrawal is unlike anything he’s ever seen.
“When you see somebody who is hallucinating, who is sweating, who is shivering, who is vomiting, who has diarrhea, who can’t stand under their own power. And this goes on for 10 days. It’s like 10 days of just being beat on by every system in your body, (which is) rebelling and fighting you.”
Morris said the clinic is stocked with an antidote called Narcan, which is used for people overdosing on opioids such as heroin.
“Two years ago, we didn’t need to have Narcan. Now we have it in all of our emergency bags,” he said. “We carry it in the nursing station so it’s readily available. We used to just give it by injection, but now we have it so you can just stick it up their nose, so we give it to them faster.”
He said people like Sibold who land in jail with a heroin addiction get the help that they need. He worries more about those outside of jail who struggle on their own.
“A lot of the people are better off if they come here, because if they come here, we’re going to detox them and wean them off of the drug as humanely as possible,” he said. “And even with that, they still struggle.”
Sibold was arrested Sept. 22 for giving a false name, address or date of birth to an officer, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and theft by receiving stolen property and loitering, according to the Muscogee County Jail website.
Once he arrived, he tried going through withdrawal without medical assistance, he said, but he eventually had to go to health services for help.
The cost
Morris said heroin has been around for a long time. It was considered a less addictive alternative for people who struggled with morphine addictions after World War I, then it grew into a bigger drug problem.
“It’s the law of unintended consequences, and when it became a problem, people realized they could capitalize on it,” he said.
“I don’t think they understood how addictive and overwhelming heroin is to people.”
Rebecca Watkins, a community representative for Bradford Health Services, said heroin addictions have doubled nationally in the last decade and that the numbers are in sync with what’s happening at the center.
She said 90 percent of the people hooked on the drug also use or have used other drugs -- and people addicted to prescription drugs are 40 times more likely to become addicted to heroin than the general population.
She said many of those addicted to heroin are young people who started with pain medications.
They turn to drug dealers when they can no longer get the drugs from physicians, then discover that heroin is a cheaper drug with a better high.
“It’s sad to see anyone addicted to heroin, but I feel worse when I see a 17-year-old or a 23-year-old truly addicted and cannot stop,” she said.
“And it could all start from stealing their parents’ or grandparents’ pain medications, or even being given the pain medication. We’ve seen it all.”
COMING THIS WEEK:
This year, during Red Ribbon Week, the Ledger-Enquirer focuses on heroin and its grip on addicts in Columbus and across the nation. Here’s a look at what’s planned:
TODAY: Heroin makes a comeback on the drug scene
MONDAY: Who is using heroin and why
TUESDAY: The impact heroin has on the body
WEDNESDAY: An addict struggling to kick the habit tells his story
THURSDAY: What officials and agencies in the Chattahoochee Valley are doing to address the problem
FRIDAY: Local reaction to the growing heroin crisis
ABOUT RED RIBBON WEEK:
On Feb. 7, 1985, DEA Special Agent Enriqué “Kiki” Camarena was kidnapped, brutally tortured and murdered by Mexican drug traffickers.
His tragic death opened the eyes of many Americans to the dangers of drugs and the international scope of the drug trade.
Shortly afterward, his high school friend, Henry Lozano, and Congressman Duncan Hunter launched “Camarena Clubs” in Camerena’s hometown of Calexico, Calif.
Hundreds of club members pledged to lead drug-free lives and delivered the pledges to first lady Nancy Reagan at a national conference of parents combating youth drug use.
Several state parent organizations then called on community groups to wear red ribbons during the last week of October as a symbol of their drug-free commitment.
In 1988, the National Family Partnership coordinated the first National Red Ribbon Week with President Ronald Reagan and the first lady serving as honorary chairpersons.
Today, Red Ribbon Week is the nation’s oldest and largest drug prevention program, reaching millions of Americans during the last week of October every year.
By wearing red ribbons and participating in community anti-drug events, young people pledge to live a drug-free life and pay tribute to Kiki Camarena.
Alva James-Johnson, 706-571-8521. Reach her on Facebook at AlvaJamesJohnsonLedger.
This story was originally published October 25, 2015 at 12:23 AM.