Local Rise in Heroin Trafficking Brings in Federal Agents

For the next two months, St. Louis County police will partner with federal agents aimed at cracking down on heroin use, county police Chief Tim Fitch said Thursday. 

"We have a heroin crisis in our community," Fitch said at a news conference in the St. Louis County and Municipal Police Academy near University City.

The majority of users are suburbanites in West and South counties, Fitch said. The crackdown also aims at identifying those who traffic in heroin. 

Residents may report information about drug dealing anonymously using the St. Louis Regional CrimeStoppers phone number.

The drug's low cost—about $10 for a high that lasts two hours—and an increase in the ways it can be consumed are key factors in the rise, Fitch said. Most deaths are tied to heroin injections, though the drug can also be smoked, inhaled or inserted under the skin. 

Fitch said in the last 24 hours, several people at a hotel in St. Louis County had called law enforcement to say that they intended to inject themselves with a lethal dose of heroin. One said she felt suicidal and another person expressed a desire to get help.

"How do you turn your back on people like this?" Fitch said. "You can't."

County police will host community informational sessions over the next two months aimed at local police, school resource officers, parents and students.

Fitch said law enforcement will pursue a three-pronged approach in a campaign titled "Heroin: Not Even Once" and will include education, enforcement, and encourage treatment for users.

Heroin is more prevalent now than cocaine, according to Fitch. Deaths linked to heroin jumped from 54 to 60 last year, Fitch said. This year, 18 heroin-related deaths have been reported so far.

The majority of deaths here were white males between the ages of 25 and 30, found at home, in hotel rooms and in vehicles, he said.

Fitch and Special Agent Harry Sommers, who heads the St. Louis division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, indicated that decisions on whether to prosecute people state or federal courts will be made on a case-by-case basis.

Sommers said heroin in the U.S. is primarily controlled by Mexican drug cartels. The level of traffic rose beginning in 2008 when the growth of poppy—the plant used to manufacture the drug—doubled. Additionally, the purity of the drug has increased, from 10 percent tops in the 1970s to as much as 90 percent, today. 

In conjunction with the program, local police will dispense cards with drug treatment options for offenders, along with issuing summonses, Fitch said.

County police are also partnering with Behavioral Health Response, an organization with a 24-hour counseling hotline for drug users. The service is taxpayer-funded, according to Leslie Levin, a representative with the treatment referral group.

"They're very sad stories of people who never intended to become drug addicts," Levin said during the news conference, referring to hotline callers. "They're no longer on Skid Row," Levin said, meaning addicts may come from all walks of life.

Fitch said the cost of treating someone for drug addiction represents a third of the cost it takes to incarcerate someone on drug charges. At the same time, he acknowledged that the success rate for treatment is low. 

Fitch said afterward the program would be evaluated quarterly, looking at whether there is a drop in heroin incidents reported to the medical examiner.

Fitch said he recently was asked why the department cares about drug users. 

"'These are your sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters,'" Fitch said.

The two-month strategy is a reallocation of resources and is not expected to cost anything additional. A possible shutdown of the federal government Friday over budgeting would not affect the heightened police efforts, officials said.

Marijuana remains the drug that police in the county encounter most often.