Pubdate: Fri, 27 Nov 2009 Source: Detroit News (MI) Copyright: 2009 The Detroit News Contact: http://detnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/126 Author: Valerie Olander, The Detroit News Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) HAMBURG TWP. DEATHS BOOST DRUG BATTLE Hamburg Township --Ryann Anderson's young life as a drug addict ended not on a squalid urban street, but in a rented house in a rural Livingston County hamlet better known for quiet lakes than quick highs. It wasn't an isolated tragedy. Just three months after the 25-year-old former cheerleader was found dead last November in the run-down house on Sheldon Road, police were called to the same address under similar circumstances. Paul Anthony Chester, 55, died the same way: alone, in his room, of a heroin overdose. The two fatalities -- as well as an increase in heroin possession and other drug-related crimes -- caught officials' attention. Hamburg Township Police Chief Steve Luciano, concerned about the spike in drug activity in the small community, sought help from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Livingston and Washtenaw Narcotics Enforcement Team. A seven-month undercover investigation netted 43 arrests -- 16 of them in the Livingston County area, authorities announced last month. Residents of the rural community 50 miles west of Detroit said they were shocked by the arrests. "It's happening all over America," Luciano said. "When you think of heroin, your first thought used to be that it's an inner-city prostitution type drug, but that's the thinking of 30 years ago." Authorities believe the increase in rural heroin use is being fed in part by an ample supply of prescription opiates, such as those in common painkillers like OxyContin. Those drugs serve as a gateway to heroin, a more powerful opiate, experts say. Patty Higgins, a social worker at nearby Pinckney Community High School, said heroin users are now just as likely to be rural teenagers in varsity jackets snorting the drug off CDs or DVDs for an instant high. "These are kids coming from good families and broken families, kids in sports," she said. "It's the very last person you would expect. It's hitting a totally different population. It's not the street person in the dark alley." County leaders are trying to raise awareness of the problem. The Livingston Community Prevention Project, a collaboration of six local substance abuse service organizations, kicked off a campaign about a month ago to warn the public about the dangers of drugs by buying billboard space on U.S. 23 and I-96. Hamburg Township, with about 20,000 people, was particularly hard-hit. Police responded to six heroin overdose deaths in 2007, nearly half of the 14 overdose deaths reported in the entire county by the Drug Abuse Warning Network, a national public health monitoring agency. The trend continued in 2008 with two deaths and this year another two overdose deaths associated with heroin use, Hamburg Police reported. Wayne County had the most drug-related deaths in 2007 with 418; Oakland County reported 150 and Macomb had 130, according to the drug network. Higgins linked heroin's popularity to its glorification by pop stars and rappers. It's trendy, accessible and cheap, she said. "Parents are shocked when they find out their child has been using. The first question they ask is, 'Where did they get the money?' " Higgins said. "I ask them, 'Have you ever given them $5 or $10 thinking they're going to McDonald's?' " she said. Suburban teens are more likely to snort or smoke the drug than inject heroin, officials say. Higgins warns parents to be on the lookout for burned spoons, tinfoil and CDs and DVDs with a white or brownish residue. Mary Anderson of Brighton Township described her daughter, Ryann, a former Brighton High School cheerleader, as a good student who earned an associate degree at Washtenaw Technical Middle College. She went on to Eastern Michigan University to study English, but didn't finish. Ryann started using Vicodin she bought on the street from people she knew, Mary said. The habit morphed into heroin use. Ryann spent two months in substance-abuse treatment facilities, including nearby Brighton Hospital, but was unable to kick the addiction. On Nov. 13, 2008, Ryann went out on her own for the first time since seeking treatment. She was looking for a job. She never came home. Ryann was found dead in the bed of a parolee she had visited by the 79-year-old man who owned the home on Sheldon Road, according to police reports. The homeowner told police he didn't know who she was. Police reports state the parolee, 56, told officers he had left at 5 a.m. that day to go to work and that Ryann was alive and sleeping. He was not charged in her death. Police found a shoebox in the closet of the room where Ryann died containing a mirror with white powder residue and razor blades. Similar residue was found on a spoon next to Paul Chester when police were called to the same home Feb. 20, officials said. Chester's relatives could not be reached for comment. The police report stated his sister said he had been struggling with a heroin addiction since he was 18. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D