Trumbull Children Services removes heroin addicts’ kids

By Ed Runyan

A drug called Suboxone is being used successfully for addiction treatment.

WARREN — Over a three-week period from late February to March 12, the Trumbull County Children Services Board took in nine children from three families whose parents had lost the ability to care for the kids because of a heroin addiction.

Five other children from four other families had to be placed with other family members during that same period — also because of the problem.

Marcia Tiger, executive director of the agency, said she doesn’t ever remember that many children coming into the agency’s custody in such a short time span before.

For all of them to have parents abusing heroin made it even more shocking, she said.

She called Ken Lloyd, president and CEO of Community Solutions, to ask him what is going on.

Lloyd told her that his agency, which provides counseling to drug addicts, had seen a 75 percent increase in heroin use since 2006 as a result of the drug being available at a lower price.

Lloyd said some people might use economic issues as an “excuse for continued usage or increased usage,” but he doesn’t believe the economy has caused it.

Lloyd said heroin has become attractive to drug users because the price is around $20 per dose, which is less than another common drug, Oxycontin, which sells for about $50 per dose.

It’s not uncommon for a heroin addict to shoot up four times in a day at a cost of about $80, he said.

Heroin, a derivative of morphine, is coming into the area from larger cities in larger quantities, and the age of users keeps dropping, Lloyd said.

But he regularly sees young people who have been addicted to the drug for many years.

“We are seeing more and more kids coming in [to Community Solutions] between 20s and early 30s who have been using heroin for 12 years. So where did they begin using it? In high school,” Lloyd said.

The drug is “quite addictive,” with the person needing more of the drug to ward off withdrawal symptoms, Lloyd said.

“We are seeing a lot of Caucasian females coming in, younger and younger ages, with a significant history of heroin use, not just here locally. That’s statewide,” he said.

Heroin frightened a lot of drug users at one time, Lloyd said, but using Oxycontin has served as a gateway to heroin for many.

“At one point in time, you could say that heroin was a drug people were always frightened of. That fear has kind of dissipated,” he said.

Because heroin is usually injected, it is causing medical complications for many users, such as HIV, hepatitis, and a other blood-borne diseases.

He said he expects CSB to continue to receive children from heroin-addicted parents, though he said it is a mistake to think such parents don’t care about their children.

“The thing is, when you’ve got the sick on [from withdrawal], you look at the destruction and devastation around you, then you start to feel the pain of those choices,” Lloyd said.

The person uses heroin again, even though they swore they wouldn’t — “and meant it,” he said.

The good news is that the treatment community has had success in using a drug called Suboxone to help heroin addicts kick the drug.

Suboxone helps eliminate withdrawal symptoms while interfering with the person’s ability to get high, Lloyd said. The drug helps keep people in treatment longer.

runyan@ vindy.com