Heroin has lurked in the suburbs for a long time. What has changed in recent years is the willingness of young people to give it a try.
Many experts think that’s because of the drug’s greater purity, which allows novice users to get high by snorting it rather than relying on a needle. But Buffalo Grove Police Chief Steve Balinski suspects that suburban users are attracted primarily by its low price and easy availability in the city.
He noted, however, that the problems caused by the drug don’t stay in Chicago. Some users try to make money by selling some of the heroin they bring back from the West Side. Others shoplift, burglarize homes or break into cars — problems that he said are on the rise in the northwest suburbs.
“It impacts the whole community, from different perspectives, with the most tragic event being the loss of someone’s life,” he said.
That has happened once in his village since 2009, along with six non-fatal overdoses. In Lake County as a whole, annual heroin-related deaths more than doubled over the last decade, from 13 to 30.
The alarming trend spurred Buffalo Grove police to join several public forums on heroin. Balinski said the most indelible impression came from a young man who described his descent into addiction. The man’s clean-cut appearance, the chief said, appeared to shock the audience of suburban parents.
“We have a perception of a heroin addict as someone who looks homeless, with track marks all over his arms,” he said. “He (looked like) just a good, wholesome kid.”
