Heroin has become a crisis in Grant County and other Indiana communities but the business story of heroin starts far from the county line.
“Large amounts of the heroin in the city come from Chicago,” Lieutenant Scott Haley of the Grant County Joint Effort Against Narcotics (JEAN) Team said. “Several people are making trips up to Chicago and buying heroin themselves because it’s cheaper.”
Heroin is as cheap as $5-15 per point, or one tenth of a gram, in Chicago, Haley said, versus $30-$40 in Indianapolis and local communities. Heroin is measured and bought by points.
Haley said the last two years have been the busiest time for the JEAN Team.
“The only thing that we could do is continue to lock up the drug dealers and get the drugs off the street,” But he said that is not an easy task because “there’s five of us, and there’s several of them.”
Heroin use has increased in Grant County since local physicians tightened restrictions on opioid prescriptions two years ago, causing many opioid addicts to switch to heroin.
The amount of heroin overdoses in Grant County jumped from four in 2013 to 43 in 2015. But Grant County is not alone.
Last week, officers from the Indiana State Police and seven other north central Indiana police/sheriff departments – including Wabash and Miami counties – teamed up and arrested 64 people on 134 different drug related charges along U.S. 31. Eighteen of the charges were classified as felonies.
The arrests came out of an unannounced three-day patrol operation known as Operation Blue Thunder June 22-24. Police dogs sniffed around vehicles at traffic stops along U.S. 31 and indicated where narcotics were present, according to Sergeant Tony Slocum, public information officer at the Peru district of the Indiana State Police.
Officers located cocaine, heroin, LSD, methamphetamine, marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms, edible marijuana food and prescription medication.
“As the summer kicks off, we want to send a message that Indiana roads are closed to those who transport illegal drugs,” Sergeant Daniel Prus of the ISP said. “Indiana police officers will utilize all of the resources at their disposal to catch and arrest the few who transport illegal drugs.”
Slocum said heroin is generally not made in the United States. Most of it comes out of poppy fields in foreign countries, like Mexico. He said heroin is a big cash crop in Afghanistan too.
A lot of crystal meth comes from Mexico too, Slocum said, but other drugs are not the problem that heroin has become.
“Heroin is becoming king all of the sudden,” he said. “We consider Chicago a distribution point now for illegal narcotics. … We first started seeing the heroin in Wabash County, and we know from investigations that that drug was coming in from Chicago.”
Major Aaron Dietz of the Hamilton/Boone County Drug Task Force said Indianapolis is normally the last stop before heroin gets to Hamilton County, which is also facing heroin problems.
He said heroin, made in Mexican labs and smuggled across the border, comes via rail, trucks, cars and mail. He said Indianapolis has become a direct destination for many drug cartels.
“It’s everywhere. Our community is no different than another community,” Haley said. “They all have the same issues and the same problems.”
Dietz recalled the story of a fifth-year veterinarian student who had overdosed and died after purchasing heroin in Carmel the night before.
“(Heroin)’s not selective,” Dietz said. “It doesn’t discriminate against any economic class.”
Dietz said education is a key element of fighting heroin and other drug addictions. He recommended that parents talk to their children as young as 8 and 10 years old – when he told his – because once they are teenagers, they’re likely to have already experimented with alcohol or drugs.
Slocum also emphasized the need for public involvement in the issue.
“We need citizens’ help. … If you’re turning a blind eye to illegal drug abuse or a manufacturer (of illegal drugs), then shame on you,” he said. “We’re doing the best we can, but we also need help from the community.”