The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has a new weapon in its arsenal: a museum exhibit on the production, distribution and dangers of illicit narcotics. The show - Target America: Opening Eyes to the Damage Drugs Cause - opens today at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Experts said they hope it will serve as a warning to people who think the illegal drug trade does not touch their lives. "If you think drugs don't affect you, think again," DEA Administrator Karen P. Tandy said. [continues 267 words]
Firsthand heartache told Theresa Blasucci the suburban heroin problem was bad. Her teenage son overdosed on the drug nearly three years ago, plunging the family into addiction's murky waters. They met dozens of other suburban families there. All were treading for their lives. "I saw the problem with my own eyes," the Glendale Heights woman said. "I knew how bad it was." Blasucci, however, did not grasp how far-reaching it was until she read a new Roosevelt University study on local heroin use. [continues 707 words]
When Theresa Blasucci first realized her son's heroin addiction, the shame overwhelmed her. How had she failed her only child? How had she not known? How would she be judged by her friends and neighbors? It would be several months before Blasucci learned she wasn't the only one asking those questions. She formed HEAL - Help End Addiction through Love - a support network for families struggling with teen drug abuse. During group meetings, she saw other families shared the same loneliness and humiliation. [continues 738 words]
In the wake of a suburban teen's fatal overdose last month and 11 arrests in an undercover sting, state and federal legislators are proposing stiffer penalties for dealing so-called club drugs. Illinois House Minority Leader Lee Daniels of Elmhurst is proposing a bill to make the sale of 15 or more grams of Ecstasy a Class X felony, meaning convicted sellers would face six to 30 years in jail. Under existing laws, a dealer could be charged with selling more than 900 doses of the drug and still receive probation. [continues 448 words]
