Why Are More Heroin Users Getting High In Public?

In January, police found a woman in the Bergen County Courthouse bathroom, a needle with heroin in her arm.

Another woman used heroin in a Wayne township bathroom when she was at municipal court.

Two women were recently arrested after they were found outside a Wayne elementary school, one with heroin and both under the influence, police said.

A man was found dead in a Stop & Shop bathroom in 2014 in Point Pleasant. Police believe the heroin was laced with toxic materials.

In an increasingly disturbing trend, authorities are finding people overdosing on heroin in public where they could be found by just about anybody.

People are not using where they are buying the drug. They are not waiting until they get home. They are using wherever they can.

Authorities attribute this troubling trend to the cheap price of the drug, its availability, and the expanding epidemic of addiction.

One hit of heroin can cost as little as $3 and a ready supply of it can be found throughout suburban North Jersey, not just the hotspots of Paterson, Jersey City, or Newark.

Addicts treat heroin just like any other drug or medication people take. They get on a schedule.

“Addicts know that if they get high at 2 p.m., they know they’re going to want to high again at 6 p.m. because they won’t want to go through withdrawal,” said Sue Marchese-Debiak, coordinator of the Bergen County Office of Addiction Services. “They know the timing.”

Fair Lawn and Wayne police have been seeing an increasing number of instances of people slumped over in vehicles in parking lots or using heroin in bathrooms.

“It’s maintenance because once you’re addicted, you need it to live with the high and when you stop using, you have to live with that high or else you’ll be in terrible pain,” said Fair Lawn Police Sgt. Brian Metzler.

Metzler said the department gets calls from business owners of people who use and stay in a bathroom for a long time.

“They know exactly how much they need to use and when they need to use it and they’ll find a place to do that,” Metzler said.

Often, police said, users are found with not just one or two hits of heroin, they’re found with dozens. They may be in a car in a dark parking lot on the side of a highway. Or, they could be driving down the street and an officer notices a minor equipment violation, like a broken taillight, and pulls the vehicle over.

“Years ago, you didn’t have the commonplace overdoses and the interaction that we’re having with people who are abusing that we have today,” said Detective Capt. Laurence Martin.

Judy Forman, coordinator of the Bergen County Municipal Alliance to Prevent Alcohol and Drug Abuse, said that more and more illegal drugs are being delivered to users’ homes, especially in higher-income areas like Mahwah, Alpine, and Wyckoff.

“They’re even more accessible in that regard,” Forman said. “The easier it is to get, the easier it is to use. As easy as it was to get, they want to use it right away.”

Along with easy of use has come an easier, more accessible way of coming down off the high. Police departments and county sheriff’s offices throughout North Jersey administer the drug to heroin and other opioid overdose victims. It’s even available without a prescription at CVS stores.

Of the 270 people who overdosed on heroin in Bergen County last year, 73 of them died, Forman said. There were 165 Narcan saves.

In the United Sates last there were 8,200 opioid and heroin overdoses, Forman said.

With the use and abuse of heroin coming more and more into the public eye, young users are getting better at hiding their stashes.

A special community forum focusing on the latest drug trends among teenagers will be held in Bergen County March 22.

Local law enforcement officials will go through a mock-up of a teenager’s room and find out where they are most likely to hide their narcotics.

More and more, police are being trained to have one-on-one conversations with arrested users in the hope of getting them clean.

“They want to understand why people continue to use and to find out if they want help,” Forman said. “It’s a tough battle, but we’re not giving up on it.”

Photo: Wikimedia Commons