Stopping heroin use in its tracks

Be sure to read the Chicago Tribune article about one family's efforts to stop heroin use. A Burr Ridge family has put up $340,000 to start an intervention program, the Reed Hruby Heroin Prevention Project, following their 24-year-old son's death in 2008.

According to the article, "...the face of the heroin user has changed. Most research on the drug is based on users from the 1970s, who were predominantly African-American.

"Now, heroin users tend to be primarily white suburbanites who snort and inject the drug..."

McHenry County has had its experience with heroin-related deaths. The education must be in the homes, in the schools and on the streets.

Also, from the Tribune article, "It's no accident that the hotline approach was established in the Chicago area, where heroin abuse is more extreme than anywhere else in the country, according to Roosevelt University researchers. The Chicago area led the nation in heroin-related emergency room visits from 2004 to 2008, according to the university's study released last year."
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-heroin-center-20110622,0,5175099.story

See information about the Project on the website of the Robert Crown Center for Health Education  at http://www.robertcrown.org/