Pubdate: Sat, 14 Mar 1998 Source: Chicago Tribune (IL) Section: Metro / Page 1 Author: Jeff Coen Contact: http://www.chicago.tribune.com/ NAPERVILLE COPS WARN OF TEEN HEROIN USE It's an all-too-common sight at some street corners in the troubled Austin neighborhood on Chicago's West Side: gang bangers pushing heroin to anyone with money. And that includes a number of Naperville teenagers, according to police in the far western suburb. Law enforcement officials say they are mobilizing to head off what they fear is a new and growing drug problem among Naperville's youth before it approaches greater proportions or the city loses its first high schooler to a heroin overdose. And as part of that effort, Naperville police started a new campaign to educate the public Wednesday night, holding a meeting at Naperville North High School that warned of the growing dangers of heroin and other drugs in the city. Police Sgt. Lisa Burghardt said the department has identified about 30 heroin users at various stages of addiction or recovery at Naperville North and Central High Schools, but investigators believe the real number of those battling the brutally addictive drug may be twice that figure. "Even four years ago, it wasn't a problem here," Burghardt said. "But incrementally, now we've seen more kids get involved--kids as young as 14 and 15. And they are hanging out in neighborhoods that I don't let my officers go into without the Chicago police with them." There are no clear reasons that youngsters in one of DuPage County's premier suburbs drift toward heroin, but Burghardt noted that Naperville teenagers tend to have more disposable cash than others their age. She also said a new snortable type of heroin is available on the streets of Chicago that has erased images of cooking the drug in dirty bottle caps and injecting it with a needle. Police predict that reports that the potent narcotic may be gaining a foothold in Naperville will stun some city residents--and officers said they hope so. Bruce Cameron, Naperville North principal, said district administrators learned of the burgeoning problem about three weeks ago and immediately alerted parents through networking. They then organized Wednesday's meeting. He said school staffs have been warned of the signs of heroin use and the school has started using small groups and other means to let youngsters know about the hazards of heroin. Burghardt and others city officials are urging all parents of the two schools' combined student population of more than 5,000 to sit down with their teenagers and warn them that heroin use could rob them of their future. At Wednesday night's meeting, Officer Gregg Bell and Robin Amberger, the school's student assistance program coordinator, told approximately 60 people in attendance about how abuse of the drug has changed. Burghardt said the typical Naperville teenager who becomes involved with heroin is a youngster from a good family who lacks nothing financially. The Naperville scenario is similar to that which has developed in other, better-documented cases, she said, such as the much-publicized heroin crisis in Plano, Texas, an affluent Dallas suburb. That community's loss of several young people to heroin overdoses received national attention last year. But many suburban police departments are quick to downplay the Naperville situation, saying it may be an isolated problem. They say they haven't seen any usual increases in the number of young heroin users. In fact, some said they haven't had any heroin-related arrests in recent memory. "We don't find a whole lot of heroin use," said Dave Okon, crime prevention officer with the Mt. Prospect Police Department. "It's not a viable opportunity for them." "It defies the odds that Naperville would be having the kind of epidemic that they're seeing," Okon added. Police Sgt. Ray McGury, a member of the Naperville department's special enforcement unit, is among the officers charged with trying to block the flow of the narcotic into Naperville. He said the practice of teenagers heading into Chicago neighborhoods to buy drugs on streets where violence is commonplace is especially worrisome. Police said they fear some of the youths won't be around long enough to get help for their addiction. "Informants have told us some of them have been robbed multiple times by street dealers down there, and one was beaten up," said McGury. "My worst nightmare is that one of our kids will get killed there." McGury said the fact that teenagers are buying the drug, and in many cases using it, outside the Naperville limits makes it hard to combat. He said police believe most youths only buy enough for one or two uses. Officers in many cases don't discover a teenager has a problem until their addiction spirals out of control and they begin to commit thefts to support their growing habit, McGury said. Chicago police have been cooperative in sharing information when they stop a car in Austin that is registered in Naperville, McGury said, but enforcement remains difficult. McGury said his officers have made no arrests of young people in Naperville for heroin possession, but police said that's due in part to a lack of a local source of the drug. Bell and Burghardt said police will continue to steer addicted teenagers to counseling and concentrate on prevention efforts, hoping to build off Wednesday's gathering at Naperville North.