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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 .
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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.
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