Heroin Use is Up in Will County

James Glasgow had a message to share Monday night in Channahon. He wanted to spread the word that use of heroin has reached epidemic levels and that parents need to be hypervigilent to stop it.

“Our kids can pick up a hit of heroin for less than the price of a movie ticket,” he told members Monday night. “We’ve got to get the message out to the parents in the community at the grass roots level; you can't be asleep at the wheel.”

Glasgow said that about three years ago, those involved in law enforcement saw a shift from the use of cocaine to heroin. Although both are terrible for the community, the chance of overdose is much higher with heroin use.

“We’re on a pace for 60 fatal overdoses for Will County this year if we don’t do something.,” he said. “This is something we’ve never experienced before.

"(With) cocaine, you almost never saw an overdose.”

Glasgow said part of the reason that heroin use is on the rise is the sheer volume of it that is available. And, the use of it has become more socially acceptable as the purity of the drug has increased and it no longer necessary to use a needle to take heroin.

“It’s so pure that it can be smoked or snorted,” he said. “It’s becoming acceptable in the teenage culture right now.”

said the information has to reach residents and that they must realize that heroin use is rising in all areas of Will County. No community is immune.

“Sometimes I think people in communities like ours think the heroin issue isn’t an issue here that it’s an inner city issue and it’s not,” Cook said. “This isn’t just an urban problem.”

In fact, on March 14, Channahon Police on charges of possession with intent to deliver heroin.

Glasgow said of the 30 overdoses last year, three were in Naperville.

Glasgow said he likes to create solutions in Will County that other areas can copy. To that end, the  will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and again from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on April  13 at Lewis University in Romeoville.