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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 16, 1995)
r • P age / .< • s « • . **. - ;• '• .• * • «J > ’■;-'•• . j • • * • i * * i t t« -> * ^ * v . t i- 5 *• Z».*’ ?.- * - j ' . * B2 A ugust • ■•' * , ■ , 16, 1995 • T he . ’ , . , ’ * ' » . » • • P ortland O bserver Middle Class Drug ( Jsers Turn To Heroin In what some characterize as an act o f rebellion against the flashy cocaine culture o f the 1980s, New York C ity ’ s middle-class drug users are turning in greater numbers to heroin, finding it cheap, potent, easy to buy and free o f the harrowing stigma associated with the 1960s junkie. When Patricia Marback, a stock broker and mother o f two, died o f an apparent overdose recently after a night o fsnorting heroin with her hus band in their New York Upper West Side apartment, friends and co l leagues were shocked But the death o f Marback, who typified success in many ways, also exem plifies the drug’ s growing clutch on the profes sional class. A t rehabilitation centers and hospitals around the city, doctors and drug counselors report treating a growing number o f professionals and college students for heroin addic tion. A t the same time, emergency rooms have seen a steady increase in heroin overdose patients in the last few years. Although heroin’s resurgence first hit the West Coast five years ago, when it was embraced by H olly wood trendsetters and grunge musi cians tired o f cocaine’s manic high, the drug’ s popularity has made a bold leap from the ghettos o f New Y ork to the plush Upper West Side apartments o f the city’s young urban professionals. “ W e’ re seeing more lawyers, bankers, stockbrokers,” said Dr. Robert B. Millm an, director o f alco hol and substance abuse services at the Payne Whitney Psychiatric C lin ic o f the New York Hospital-Comell Medical Center “ It has become a frequent phe nomenon in the affluent working population. Twenty years ago, peo ple would run out o f the room i f someone had it. Now it’ s reasonable to think that young, successful peo ple know someone else who has done it.” For many col lege-educated drug users, most o f whom have experi ence with cocaine, switching to her oin is no longer as unconscionable as it seemed a few years ago for one primary reason: the drug can now be snorted. Snorting the drug, rather than injecting it intravenously, has van quished many users’ fears o f con tracting H IV , the virus that causes AIDS, from dirty needles and way laid visions o f dope fiends, track marks coursing down their arms, searching for a sturdy vein to shoot up. Heroin has been civilized in the eyes o f many middle-class users. Addicts and doctors say the grow ing fascination w ith heroin among the upper and middle classes is also rooted in distaste for the im mediate past: a cliche image o f the driven, money-grubbing materialism ofthe 1980s, a decade in which intro spection was cast aside for corporate networking, social climbing and ruth less ambition. In its place, they say, a counter culture has arisen, one that mimics the soul searching o f the 1960s with its emphasis on feeling and decom pressing “ This is a cultural rejection o f the cocaine 1980s,” said one recently recovered 29-year-old college-edu cated heroin addict who is a musi cian. “ Those values are repulsive to me. I hated everything about it. Co caine makes people violent and righ teous. Heroin makes you peaceful and lucid and calm and thoughtful, dare I say, clairvoyant. It’ s the great est high in the w orld.” Indeed, much o f heroin’s mys tique is w rapped up in nostalgia for a milder, more creative drug culture that harkens back to people like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Miles Davis and the late Jerry Garcia, the Grate ful Dead leader who had a relentless battle with heroin. And in a drug world devastated by the harshness o f crack-cocaine in a smokable form - heroin is also an attempt, among some users, to ro manticize and reclaim at least one type o f drug once again. “ Cocaine was always the drug o f the affluent, said John Galea, su pervisor o f the street studies unit for the New York O ffice o f Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. “ Even freebasing cocaine was a rich per son’s habit,” he said, referring to the practice o f smoking cocaine powder treated with ether and reduced to a crystalline base. “ But when crack took over and became this monster it has become,” he continued, “ crack took the place o f h eroin on the totem pole. Crackheads are now at the bottom o f the totem pole.” Dr David M. Ockert, executive ank Robber Captured Portland Police arrested a sus pect Wednesday morning August 9, 1995 in connection with two N orth east Portland bank robberies. Rob bery detectives and FBI agents sub sequently charged the man with a total o f four bank robberies. Portland Police and FBI agents responded to the Washington M utu al Savings and Loan at 3030 NE Weidler about 9 :10a.m. on the report o f a robbery. Shortly thereafter, o f ficers were dispatched on another robbery at the Bank o f America at 6901 N. E. Sandy Blvd. As officers arrived witnesses described the sus pect and the direction he fled. NearN. W. 70th and Sandy Blvd. a construction worker notified o ffic ers that a man had run up and stolen his Ford Pickup Officers followed in the back looked directly at him. Sgt. Hendricks had a photo o f the suspect and realized that it was the person in the car. W ith several other officers, the vehicle was stopped eastbound on 1-84 near the Lloyd Center. A ll three subjects were ini tia lly taken into custody. Allegedly, the suspect, identi fied as W illiam E. Spicer, DOB 11- 27-67, left the stolen pickup near N. E. 66th Ave., and Glisan St. and obtained a ride from the other men. They were later released. Investigators said that they did recover money and have charged Spicer with bank robbery for the incidents on Wednesday, and also in connection with robberies at two other financial institutions during the last week. the suspect to Proyidence Hospital, where a witness observed him drive into a parking lot. Officers searched the area, but did ro t find the pickup or suspect. FBI agents had furnished o ffic ers with a bank surveillance photo o f an individual wanted in connection with the August 7th robbery o f the Hayden Island First Interstate. This suspect closely matched the descrip tion o f the suspect in today’ s robber ies. Sergeant Greg Hendricks was returning to Central Precinct on E. Burnside St. After assisting in the search o f Providence Hospital. He observed a vehicle near S. E. Grand Ave., with two men in the front seat and one crouched down in the back. As Sgt. Hendricks watched the man Call For Human Rights Award Nominees T he M e tr o p o lita n H um an R ightsC om m ission is lo o k in g fo r nom in a tion s fo r its annual rec o g n itio n awards, scheduled fo r O ct. 26. The organization presents the Russell A. Peyton award each year fo r “ o u ts ta n d in g se rvice and co m m itm e nt to p ro te c tin g the hum an rig h ts o f a ll p e r sons w ith in the c ity o f P o rt land and M ultn o m a h C o u n ty .” O rg a n iza tio n o ffic ia ls said nominees should have dem on strated his or her co m m itm e nt over a long period o f tim e and in a way that serves to support the rig h ts o f a broad spectrum o f people.” The co m m issio n w ill also g ive a Business D iv e rs ity A w ard fo r outstanding results in re c ru it ing and m a in ta in in g a diverse w o rkfo rce . A N o n - p r o f it D iv e r s it y A w a rd w ill go to a p u b lic service o r g a n iz a tio n th a t “ d e m o n s tra te s its c o re v a lu e s by in c o r p o r a tin g c r o s s - c u ltu r a l actions in to its d a ily a c tiv itie s and m a in t a in in g a d iv e rs e w o rk fo rc e .” One o f the m ost u p liftin g events o f the award d in n e r is the C o m m u n ity H arm ony A w ard. “ T h ro u g h o u t our c o m m u n ity there are many people and o rg a n iza tion s w ho cross e thn ic and c u ltu ra l lines to respond to in ju s tice and prom ote harm ony as a routine part o f th e ir d a ily liv e s ,” com m ission o ffic ia ls said. The com m ission w ill recog nize these kinds o f e ffo rts in a b oo kle t that w ill be d is trib u te d at the d inner. N o m in a tio n s may be s u b m it ted to the com m ission by w ritin g an account, up to one page in length, h ig h lig h tin g the person's or o rg a n iz a tio n ’ s achievem ents C o m m is s io n o ffic ia ls said i t ’ s a w o n d e rfu l way to support the c iv il and human rig h ts o f ev eryone. The event w ill be held Oct. 26 from 6 :30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Beaum ont M id d le School on Fre m ont and 42nd Avenue in n o rth east P ortland. and sending it to the com m ission o ffic e at 1 120 S.W . F ifth A ve., Room 5 16, P ortland, OR 97204- 1989. The deadline fo r subm ission is F rid ay, Sept. 1. The award din ne r is know n fo r its e xc e lle n t food and diverse p a rticip a n ts . WE DONT CARE CLEANERS LOOK FAMILIAR? TRY US! We Are Open 7 Days A Week ‘Till 9:00pm director o f the Parallax Center, an outpatient chem ical dependency treatment center, has noticed an in crease in college-educated users. “ W e’ re coming o ff a generation where it was O K to snort cocaine,” he said. “ Now you have this white powder and no H IV fears. It has taken it out o f the ghetto. And this has allowed a lot o f people - the very broad middle class - access to it without the stigma.” Heroin, although more expen sive than crack, is cheaper than co caine, and the high can last six hours or more, as opposed to just a short while. One glassine envelope, which usually contains somewhat less than a quarter ofone gram o f heroin, costs $10 on the street. As o f late, it has become just as easy to find in New York as crack, users and state substance-abuse em ployees say. “ There is much more heroin on the street than I have seen before,” said the musician, who lives near New Y o rk ’ s East Village. “ It’s all over the place. It’ s literally available on my doorstep.” Investigators said that they found two glassine envelopes o f heroin in the Marbacks’ apartment and that Marback told them he had bough, those and three others that the couple had already consumed a, 106th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, near Co lumbia University. In their quest to lure more cus tomers away from cocaine and in crease their profits, heroin makers and dealers have refined and market ed the drug in a way that makes it seem less harmful and dangerous to most new users. Ten, 15 and 20 years ago, users usually needed to inject the drug intravenously because o f its low quality. Back then, the drug they bough, was only 3 percent to 10 percent pure. The res, consisted o f dilutants. Today in New York City, a major marketplace for some o f the country’ s most powerful heroin, the drug’s potency has in some cases reached 80 percent. The heroin re covered by the police from the Marback’s residence tested nearly 80 percent pure, said Patrick Harnett, commanding officer o f the Police Department’s narcotics division. But the drug has also become more dangerous for new users. H igh- er potency increases the likelihood ofoverdose, especially ifpeople treat heroin like cocaine, which requires larger doses to get high. In addition, buyers don’t always know what has been mixed with the heroin. In the last two weeks alone, eight people have showed up for treatment at the Metropolitan Hospital Center on the Upper East Side after overdosing on heroin that was cut with scopola mine, a drug used for motion sick ness and nausea, said Dr. Rania Habal, an emergency room physi cian at the hospital. The heroin’s street name is Black Magic. Some o f the emergency cases had just started using heroin, Dr. Habal said. For some new users, there is also a certain th rill in braving the barrier between the routine and the forbid den: the intermingling o f W all Street with the hardcore avenues o f drug addicts can be just as alluring as the powder itself. “ One o f the things I found my self missing most is the adventure o f copping,” said one woman, another recently recovered addict, about buy ing heroin on the streets. “ Having grown up in a middle-class M idwest ern suburb, the fact that I could han dle brutal kids dealing brutal drugs and not get killed or hel3 up is an achievement.” What also makes heroin so ap pealing to users is the drug’s subtle ty, doctors and former addicts say. Unlike hallucinogenics, and to a cer tain extent cocaine, heroin works upon the body in more subdued ways. Users can still complete their legal briefs, do the laundry and sit around a table with friends at a restaurant, and the odds are no one w ill ever know. That false sense o f security, how ever, belies the drug’ s intense hold on the body and mind. W ith no frame o f reference, former cocaine users mislead them selves into thinking they can handle heroin’ s clutch. They are almost always mistak en, former addicts say. The young woman, an adminis trative assistant for a human rights group who kicked the habit after a one-year struggle, said she was aware o f the potential for addiction, she just didn’t realize its power. At one point, she even injected the drug because it was less expen sive to get high that way. 1- ¿auX'A Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center's For The Best H and In A dvertising... Theatre in D'Hood Premieres "Class Struggle" W ritten by M a ri» Del’ riest Directed by M a ry Thornton Performed by the Theatre in D'Hood Ensemble Fridays and Saturdays August 11/12 & 18/19 8:00 p.m $5 Adults/$3 tinder 10 For reservations call 823-2000 IF C C /5340 N Interstate Avenue ...call (Elje ^ o rtla n b ©b server. 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