Pubdate: Sun, 13 Jul 2008
Source: Janesville Gazette (WI)
Copyright: 2008 Bliss Communications, Inc
Contact: http://www.gazetteextra.com/contactus/lettertoeditor.asp
Website: http://www.gazetteextra.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1356
Author: Mike DuPre'
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)

COKE, POT ARE COMMON, BUT HEROIN IS LOCAL KILLER

JANESVILLE - While marijuana and crack cocaine are the two most
available and used drugs in Janesville, heroin has killed here.

And smack regularly comes close to killing users, says Sgt. Stephen
DeWitt, supervisor of the Janesville Police Department's Street Crimes
Unit.

Heroin has become more prevalent in Janesville, he
said.

"It seems like heroin skipped a generation," DeWitt said. "It was here
in the '60s and '70s, and now it's back. We see a reported overdose
every couple of weeks. There are people here who deal heroin. Most of
the people who deal it are users. Rockford (Ill.) is the big supply."

Local heroin users-typically men and women in their 20s-usually are
sophisticated, such as the dealer in the movie "Pulp Fiction" who
injected Uma Thurman's overdosed character with epinephrine to revive
her, DeWitt said.

"They come into the hospital with epinephrine syringes stuck in their
chests," he said. "Heroin users say it's very common. They all have
the syringes and the stuff. They know how to use it."

The Rock County Coroner's Office reported 49 accidental overdose
deaths in 2006, 2007 and so far this year. Thirty-six were caused by
opiates or synthetic opiates: heroin, 1; morphine, 15; hydrocodone,
16, and methadone, 4. Heroin breaks down quickly in the blood and can
appear as morphine in some autopsies.

The office has not received toxicology results on all possible
accidental overdoses.

Most of the heroin trade in Janesville is not usually gang-related or
large scale, DeWitt said. "Three to four grams at most."

A gram of smack translates into five $20 bags.

"Some people we run into do it two or three times a day, two to three
bags at a time. Users are running two and three times a day to
Rockford. They rarely hold large amounts," DeWitt said.

Users who snort heroin use less, while those who inject the drug shoot
up three to five bags three to five times a day, he said.

Some heroin users in Janesville hold down jobs; others don't, DeWitt
said.

Besides death through overdose, heroin's harm to society "ranks pretty
high because your whole time is spent getting your fix. It doesn't
leave a lot of time for work, school and family," he said. "Users
probably don't meet as many violent people as crack people do. Heroin
users are very cliquey. They know each other, trust each other and use
the same sources."

The veteran Janesville officer offered a street cop's view of the drug
scene in the city.

Drug use in Janesville is more prevalent now than in his 31 years on
the job, DeWitt said, and has been on an upward trend over the last
three years.

The reason?

"Money, because there's money to be made," DeWitt said. "It's all
money, supply and demand."

Asked to break down the local drug trade by substance, DeWitt offered:
Marijuana: Pot has become more prevalent and cheaper over the last two
years. Most of the commercial-grade pot comes from Mexico and costs about
$70 an ounce. Higher grade marijuana-such as that grown indoors in
hydroponic tanks or by sophisticated growers in British Columbia,
Canada-sells for about $140 an ounce.

"I don't think there are a lot of local growers," DeWitt
said.

His conservative estimate was that 100 pounds of pot a week moves into
Janesville and through the city to the rest of Rock County and Madison.

Police are investigating about a half dozen dealers moving 10 to 20
pounds a week.

"And there's at least a half dozen we don't know about," DeWitt
said.

People "all over the board," young to old, poor to rich, on all sides
of the city, smoke marijuana.

From his perspective, the societal costs of marijuana use are "people
don't want to work; people don't want to go to school. If they start
dealing, they run into crime problems plus legal penalties. The
problem you lead into with bigger amounts is that those people get
beat up and get their product stolen.

"The problem is with the money," DeWitt said.

Cocaine: Powder cocaine comes into the city and county in kilos-2.2 pounds
per kilo-and usually is converted to crack because the process expands the
drug's volume.

"There are key people who handle kilos here," DeWitt
said.

Crack cocaine is more available than powder cocaine.

An ounce of powder cocaine becomes what is portrayed as-but probably
doesn't weigh-two to three ounces of crack. And because crack often is
sold in small amounts, or rocks, it is cheaper to buy: $10, $20 or $50
rocks compared to $100 for a so-called gram of crack or $125 for a
gram of powder cocaine.

DeWitt said his conservative estimate is that a dozen dealers each
moves four to six ounces of cocaine a week here.

"The sky's the limit," DeWitt said. "There is a lot. It's easier to
find crack than marijuana."

Most of the powder cocaine users the Street Crimes Unit encounters are
in their late teens to upper 30s. Crack users range in age from 17 to
50s. Men and women use both forms of cocaine, but the unit doesn't see
many professional people using cocaine in either form.

The current situation is not like the 1980s when white-collar cocaine
use was prevalent.

But DeWitt stressed: "Our main focus is street-level drug
dealing."

Professional people in Janesville might circulate drugs among their
circles of friends, "but it's not our mission," DeWitt said. "It's not
on our radar, but if we become aware of it, we deal with it."

"You see a lot of addiction with cocaine. You see a lot more people in
financial trouble, marital trouble, work problems. Also the (criminal)
element that they're dealing with can be difficult."

Coke dealers are apt to be armed and dangerous, DeWitt said. "The
profits are higher; the costs are higher, so you're going to get that."

Methamphetamine: "We don't see a lot of it because cocaine is so cheap and
available. Ecstasy (which contains methamphetamine) is always here, but you
have to look for it."

While "heroin people can still function; meth people don't function
very well," DeWitt said.

Ecstasy use appears limited here to college-age people.

"A lot of girls use it because it's a party kind of thing," DeWitt
said. "It keeps you stimulated."

Hallucinogens: "We've found more (psilocybin) mushrooms here than LSD. We've
found mushrooms grown here. On search warrants, we might find a small bag.

"It's more a designer drug, more a drug user's special drug, like a
connoisseur thing. It's not a thing everyone does or can find."

Prescription drugs: Painkillers such as OxyContin, and stimulants such
as Adderall.

Adderall is prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder.

"A lot of it gets prescribed to kids, and they sell it. It's a lot
like the oxy drugs (synthetic opiates). It's more a friends' circle.
Someone gets a prescription, and they make a little money," De Witt
said.

Police don't see a lot of trade in prescription painkillers such as
OxyContin and Vicadin.

"We don't run into a lot of it. There might two or three pills on a
(traffic) stop or warrant."

But reports of stolen prescriptions are common.

"Some people actually are victims of theft. Some people actually sell
their own prescriptions, then report them stolen."

People on all social levels abuse prescription painkillers in
Janesville.

Typically, they are recreational users are in their 20s and older.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin