I used to use heroin and speedballs - can I be a cop?

[RO56]

Somebody should tell the journalist that his "feel-good, humanitarian story" will never come to fruition in real life (see the caption below the large photo at the beginning of the story).

Joe Langevin, 18, a recovering heroin addict, works to strengthen his body as a boxer and toward his long-term goal to have a career in law enforcement. Not long ago, Langevin was among a growing number of teens who liked to mix heroin with other drugs to amplify the reaction -- which also increases the dangers.

I wonder how long it will be before this idiot shows up here asking questions ... :rolleyes:

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...ETRO/612090337

A higher high, a deadly fall
Ex-addicts, others warn heroin use is up
Shawn D. Lewis / The Detroit News

FARMINGTON HILLS -- Heroin was Amanda Bramble's friend.

She liked the woozy way it made her feel, and how it erased all her problems at home.

"I'd wake up, get high, go to school, get high, get high in school, go get high after school," said the 18-year-old recovering addict. "I'd start the day off good."

Sometimes, to enhance the high, she would shoot heroin, then follow it with a prescription drug such as Klonopin, an anti-seizure drug, or Adderall, a stimulant used to treat hyperactive children.

Bramble of Farmington Hills is hardly alone. Suburban parents, police and health care officials are alarmed at what they say is a two-fold problem: heroin use on the rise among a younger crowd, and users looking to punch up their high by mixing in prescription drugs such as OxyContin, methadone and other opiates in dangerous combinations. Rehabilitation centers say they're seeing more teen heroin users, and Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard announced this week he'll focus more manpower on stopping heroin dealers.

Mixing heroin with other drugs to amplify the high also appears to be growing in popularity. In one day alone over the Thanksgiving weekend, three 18-year-olds were treated at Beaumont Hospital for a mix of heroin and Klonopin. In Macomb County, the overdoses from mixtures far outweigh those of heroin alone, according to the medical examiner.

"It's called 'chasing the dragon,'" said Joe Langevin, 18, also a recovering heroin addict from the small town of Almont in Lapeer County.

"You want a higher high. When you combine the drugs, it's called speed balling. You take two different drugs -- like cocaine, which makes you real hyper, and heroin, which makes you real mellow. When you take them together, it feels different, so I liked it."

The combination of heroin and other drugs makes treatment and diagnosis more difficult for emergency-room doctors. While there is a direct antidote to heroin, Narcan, its effects are limited when combating drug mixtures.

"When you combine drugs, it makes it more difficult, if not impossible, to tell how much of an effect the Narcan will have," said Dr. Frank McGeorge, Beaumont Hospital emergency medicine specialist in Royal Oak. "It will reverse the heroin portion, and will pull them out of enough trouble, but they will not be awake enough that we feel comfortable leaving them without life support, like a breathing tube. With a mixed overdose, we can't tell if Narcan is working efficiently."

McGeorge cited the difficulty of treating heroin mixed with Klonopin as an example.

"The Klonopin will increase the likelihood that the person will stop breathing," he said. "It could cause permanent injury to the brain, or they could throw up and suck it back into the lungs, which could kill them or cause severe lung damage. The first priority is to keep the person alive and then figure out how to reverse specific things."

Macomb County Medical Examiner Daniel Spitz said while the number of overdoses has held steady in his county, the greatest increase he has seen is from the combination of heroin and other drugs, including cocaine, oxycodone, Xanax and others.

In a period from April through October, Spitz saw 24 heroin-related overdoses, and 19 of those were from mixtures of heroin and other drugs.

One of the most fatal results of combining heroin and cocaine with another drug resulted in an estimated 133 deaths in Metro Detroit in 2005-06, when the drugs were laced with fentanyl. The problem reached a crisis level in May 2006, when Wayne County deaths hit 33 in one week.

Heroin overdoses have been reported across Oakland County, from inner ring suburbs such as Royal Oak to rural areas such as Holly and Independence Township. Sheriff Michael Bouchard announced plans this week to deploy his department's narcotics and surveillance teams to help police departments in Royal Oak, Clawson and Madison Heights to combat the heroin problem, which has increased significantly this year, he said.

"We have noticed a 50 percent increase in heroin cases in Oakland County in the first 11 months of 2006, compared to all of 2005," said Bouchard. "And these are not just traffic stops where our narcotics enforcement team finds someone with drugs."

The drug's popularity is growing among teens for several reasons, experts say. It's inexpensive, plentiful and comes without a lot of the stigma of earlier generations.

Randy O'Brien, director of the office of substance abuse for the Macomb County Mental Health Department, said attitudes are among the biggest factors for teen heroin use.

"They're snorting it now, so they don't have the negative image of shooting it," he said. "And a lot of these kids have money to spend for it. One of the biggest things is the drop in the perception that it is harmful."

Parents and educators in several suburbs are facing the problem.

Royal Oak Public School Superintendent Tom Moline is the facilitator of the Save Our Youth Task Force, created to try to stem heroin use among teens.

"It's like playing Russian roulette, because you don't know if what you're injecting will kill you," he said.

Another Save Our Youth task force has been created in Livonia by Diane Montes, whose 22-year-old son Brian died of a heroin overdose June 29.

"We had 140 people show up at our informational meeting in October, and 120 signed up," said Montes. "I think the task force gives parents freedom to talk about it and it lets them know they're not dealing with this alone," she said.

Scott Schadel is a program director at the Pathway Family Center in Southfield. Pathway is a drug treatment center for people ages 10-21 and has facilities in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. Schadel said one reason teens are turning to heroin is a lack of support in the home, school or community.

"There may be issues with the family, with self-esteem, they may have experienced some kind of loss, abuse, a traumatic situation," said Schadel. "Drugs and alcohol give them the feeling they weren't able to get otherwise. There may be depression, anger, a family breakup, abandonment, rejection. It's not so much what happened as not being able to deal with it in healthy ways. Drugs and alcohol help them cope."

That was the case for both Bramble and Langevin before they began the 14-month program at Pathway, they said.

Langevin enjoys boxing, and his long range goal is to work in law enforcement. Bramble loves anything artsy, and is a part-time student at Oakland Community College. She has not yet decided a career path.

"I can see growth in myself," she said. "I had friends die from drug overdoses, but none of that stopped me. I think it comes to a point everyone has to figure out for themselves."

[Valor55]

Langevin enjoys boxing, and his long range goal is to work in law enforcement. Bramble loves anything artsy, and is a part-time student at Oakland Community College. She has not yet decided a career path.

Someone is in for a shock. I'm glad he's straight but he'll never get hired, nor should he.

[squeeeg]

42.3 days and counting before they are here asking "Can I still be a Cop"

[H.R. Cufnstuf]

I get the feeling he would just try to cover it up.

[RO56]

I get the feeling he would just try to cover it up.

There are people out there that would actually try to do that? ;)

[Valor55]

"But Jack Osbourne became a cop, why shouldn't I be able to?"

http://forums.realpolice.net/showthread.php?t=61865

:rolleyes:

[Citicop]

I get the feeling he would just try to cover it up.

If he does, he's even dumber than I thought...

A Google search of his name returns that news story as the #2 result...

I spent less than 15 seconds on his background and DQ'ed him, I can't imagine that the P.D. will miss it...

Citicop.

[ferrara04]

I get the feeling he would just try to cover it up.

He may, but I think it might be a little hard since there is an article about him.

[H.R. Cufnstuf]

He may, but I think it might be a little hard since there is an article about him.

Solid point, but I don't honestly believe that very many people with law enforcement endeavors who have a history of hard drugs would have enough integrity to admit to such.