Baltimore: A city succumbing to heroin

A drug addict picks up his clean hypodermic needles in east Baltimore, Maryland, Friday

Three generations of one family use the drug

Part two of a two-part series

In this story: Grandparents, parents, kids use heroin 13-year-old girl primary caretaker of family Prevention and treatment RELATED STORIES, SITES

From Pierre Thomas
CNN Justice Correspondent

BALTIMORE, Maryland (CNN) -- The steady stream of people picking up clean hypodermic needles on a recent Friday morning in Baltimore is one indication the Maryland city has perhaps the nation's highest rate of heroin addiction.

Even the addicts feel they are victims of an urban plague.

	VIDEO
CNN's Pierre Thomas examines the drug problem in Baltimore Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) A special report from CNN's Pierre Thomas, originally aired on 'The World Today' on Thursday Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

"Pure hell, hell, hell," said one man, who didn't want his name used. "I'm saying it's hard for me to function in the morning. When I get up, I have to find a way to get the heroin to function through the day. And it's taking a toll on my life."

He has fought his heroin addiction for 10 years.

"No place to go away from it, so I have to deal with it," he said. "I'm not strong enough to say 'no' at the time, so then I fall right back into the same rut."

Lives, souls and bodies by the thousands are stricken in Baltimore.

"It's bad, kind of makes you feel ashamed of yourself," said another man whose arms bear the scars of repeated needle marks. "You don't want to walk around because everybody sees your arms. Makes you ashamed, also makes you depressed."

In Baltimore, drugs have become woven into the fabric of the community.

Of the city's 650,000 residents, an estimated 60,000 use illegal drugs, according to Baltimore's health commissioner, Dr. Peter Beilenson.

"No place to go away from it, so I have to deal with it," — Baltimore heroin addict about the pervasiveness of the drug

"About one out of every ten adults," he said. "And for about three quarters of them, the primary drug of choice is heroin."

Some people blame the city's 45,000 heroin users on poverty. Others aren't certain why the drug has become so entrenched that it's handed down along family lines.

"Baltimore is actually a multi-generational heroin city, where grandparents, parents and grandchildren have all used heroin," said Beilenson.

"Terry" is a recovering heroin user who did not want her face shown on camera. The 41-year-old woman said she's been using heroin for more than two decades.

"Since I was 19," Terry remembers. "My mother was a user, my father was an alcoholic. I hated all my mothers friends. I blamed everybody for my mother's use."

But Terry says she herself "somehow" eventually tried the drug -- and liked it. "Somehow it draws you in," she said. "It takes complete control of your life."

Terry has two sons, ages 23 and 19. The eldest son was a heroin abuser and now her youngest has followed suit.

"I just found out a couple of months ago that he's been using for about two months off and on," Terry said.

13-year-old girl primary caretaker of family

Heroin's impact is far-reaching in Baltimore. The drug is behind many of its high number of overdose deaths, homicides, and cases of AIDS and hepatitis.

In Baltimore,1 out of 10 adults are illegal drug users

Officials estimate the drug is costing the city billions of dollars because of crime and lost economic development.

And then there is the impact on families.

Dr. Beilenson recalls an exhausted-looking 13-year-old patient he came to see him for a physical last year. "I got to talking to her and it turned out that she was the primary care-taker of her family," he said.

The girl's father had been killed in drug-related violence, and her mother was a drug abuser and frequently missing. That left the 13-year-old to look after her 5-year-old brother and her 77-year-old grandfather. She went shopping for the family, and made sure her brother went to bed on time.

Said Baltimore's new police chief, Edward Norris: "It's really sad to see very young children -- I'm talking pre-teen-agers, 5, 8 10-years-old -- playing and navigating their way through the streets here, as we are conducting our business and the drug dealers are conducting theirs."

The drug trade has become part of the landscape for the children, he said. "It's absolutely heartbreaking to watch."

Norris says Baltimore has become the hub of a heroin problem that is, in part, fueled by suburban users.

"I was on patrol yesterday, " said Norris. "Arrested two people from the county for buying heroin. One was driving a beautiful black Volvo."

Prevention and treatment

The huge market has attracted a wide array of dealers who sell primarily Colombian heroin shipped out of New York City.

An addict's arm tells his story

Gary Hartman of the Drug Enforcement Agency said his agents try to identify, target and dismantle well-organized drug trafficking groups in the city. But he said smaller, looser groups of dealers pose a bigger problem.

"Since we are so close to New York City -- within 200 miles -- a couple of people can put their money together, drive up to New York, get some heroin, come back and distribute it over the next day or two days," said Hartman, who is the DEA special agent in charge of the Baltimore district.

Health department officials are trying to increase funding for their drug programs. One of their goals is to expand "treatment on demand" from the current caseload of 18,000 addicts to 35,000. Another is to warn children away from drugs.

One addict would like to do the same.

"It is a dangerous drug," he says. "It will kill you, and you'll regret it. Don't worry about snorting it, or putting that spike in your arm. Believe what I'm saying, 'you don't need it, please don't do it.' Look at me -- I had a good job, had a good home, come out of a good family, and I ruined my life."

Heroin boom takes in suburbs, small towns
September 21, 2000
Heroin deaths rise throughout U.S., surge in Northwest
July 20, 2000
Public health officials alarmed by heroin's resurgence
July 22, 1998

DEA
Baltimore County Police Department

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