Sheriff Keith Stone, Nash County Sheriff in N.C., said Wednesday afternoon at a media conference, that heroin has reached epidemic proportions in Nash County and eastern N.C.
“Last week we go into a house - there is a mother in a bedroom and there are six or seven kids under 7-years old, and the mother and her daughter are doing heroin,” Stone said. “The daughter overdoses.”
Stone said the woman’s son overdosed and died in January. Stone said he sees people leaving their families over heroin and there is total chaos in homes because of heroin. He said children are left with no food and nobody to care for them.
“The deaths in our community associated with it (heroin) is growing,” Stone said. “In our community last week we have had four overdoses. We’ve used Narcan 27 times in the month of February. (Narcan is the drug used to stop an overdose.)We are having death with it (heroin) weekly and multiple deaths. Last week alone, from the number that I’ve gotten is four. And that’s in our area.”
Stone said he has read information that in North Carolina there is a 400 percent increase in heroin use from 2014 until 2015. “I can tell you right now that in 2016, we’re rising a whole lot quicker than we were last year, “ Stone said.
Stone calls those who use heroin victims. “I call them victims because when you are addicted to this stuff it is a mental health issue,” Stone said.
The Tar River Task Force, made up of several local law enforcement agencies and the SBI, was given a tip Friday, according to Stone. By following the tip, Sunday they were able to seize 346 bricks of heroin which breaks down to 17,350 bendels of heroin from a man from eastern N.C. who was bringing the drugs from New York to distribute, according to Stone. They arrested a 54 year old man named Billy Ray Johnson of Nashville, Stone said. Stone called him a major supplier.
“These 17,350 bendels equates to a lot of people who are on these drugs,” Stone said. “There is a big supply of it out here and people trying to get it. It is an epidemic at this time.”
While the man arrested was in Halifax County, Stone said the drugs were not just going to stay in Wilson, Edgecombe, Halifax and Nash Counties, but would go as far as Wake and Durham Counties as well.
“Heroin is getting here by our boarders,” Stone said. “The largest heroin producers at this time are in South America - also Afghanistan, the Taliban is a big, big supplier to our country. Usually New York and New Jersey are your larger hubs of it. We have people who are making trips to these areas picking it up and selling it in our community.”
Stone said they can’t stop the influx, but they are working to get as much off of the street as they can. Stone said he wants the faith community to get involved because it is a community problem. He said parents should monitor their children.
“Prescription medication, marijuana are the gateway drugs to heroin,” Stone said. “Heroin is difficult to get off of. Usually to get totally clean of it, if you make it to that point can take three years.”
THE HOPE INITIATIVE
Nashville police chief, Thomas Bashore, said there is hope for anyone who is addicted to heroin. Feb. 9th, the police force there launched a program where a person can turn themselves in and not be charged with drug use.
Bashore said they can come to the police station without fear of interrogation or arrest if they have drugs or paraphernalia on them.
“We will provide them with support, compassion and get them pointed in the right direction for treatment that will include initial detox and then short term and long term assistance,” Bashore. “Honestly, you can get pass this at some point. But you will probably always have that burden with you for the rest of your life.”
Bashore said you don’t have to live in Nashville to take advantage of the program. He said if you come to them, they will help. Bashore said it would not be in their best interest to turn people away. He said there have been six people, so far, who have come in for help through the Hope Initiative since the launch in Feb.
“That program was modeled after the ‘Angel Program’ in Massachusetts,” Bashore said. “We’ve been working on this since October. We’re trying to reduce the stigma that’s attached to addiction and attack this - not only from an enforcement standpoint, but also from a prevention and a helping approach to those who are addicted to heroin.”
The phone number to Nashville, NC police is 252-459-4545.
(My son, a professional photographer, took pictures from the press conference Wednesday, but Daily Kos has a strict image file size limit. So, I am sorry I have no pictures I can show you at this time. He said he will use a different camera next time.)