Ill. Officials Talk About Heroin Addicts

Feb. 16--The Drug Free Coalitions of Madison County held a summit Thursday morning to share ideas on how law enforcement and treatment agencies can help each other to address heroin use and deaths.

Madison County Coroner Steve Nonn said it is up to public officials to alert residents of the crisis that affect people across boundaries.

"That's our job," Nonn said.

Those who overdose on heroin are not bad people; they simply made a bad choice.

"That is somebody's child lying on the floor ... grabbed by an extremely addictive drug," Nonn said. "These people are victims."

Susan Taylor, director of adult substance abuse at Chestnut Health Systems agreed, and said a holistic approach would be needed to treat a person with an addiction problem.

Taylor said a challenge is finding a place for the person to go, especially if the person is uninsured: Is it jail? A detox place? A change of environment away from friends and family?

Many issues were raised during a public portion of the summit from about 9 to 11 a.m. at the Glen Carbon Police Department.

The event was then closed to the media and the public so attendees could speak freely about concerns, challenges and solutions, according to a Chestnut representative.

Participants then left the meeting with goals meant to further increase communication and shared knowledge with each other and the public.

Jean Schram, director of prevention at Chestnut, said one of the things that police officers asked for is updated information packets they could keep in their cars or at the department to hand out to parents who call for help.

Glen Carbon Police Sgt. Doug Boker said such packets will help those who need help get to the right place without too much police intervention, which families may find intimidating and intrusive.

Boker also said it helps for police to meet those who work in treatment and develop relationships with them. This way, an officer can make referrals to a treatment worker they know and trust, thus making it easier for the public to navigate the system and get help.

"Often parents want help but they don't know what to do," Boker said. "How does the public know where to go if we don't know?"

In attendance were about 50 people from member groups such as the Alcohol and Drug Task Force at SIUE, Madison County Health Department and Illinois State Police.

Copyright 2012 - Belleville News-Democrat, Ill.