Brentwood chief of police: Heroin use in the St. Louis area

Brentwood Chief of Police Dan Fitzgerald makes these posts on his informational department website, The Chief’s Desk.

Last night at the Town Hall Summit on Dangerous Drugs, we heard from Jared Opsal with the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse (NCADA). Jared discussed the heroin problem in the St. Louis area.  

In 2014, 400 people died from heroin overdose in the St Louis area. In the last ten years, there have been over 2300 deaths. Brentwood had at least six deaths attributed to heroin abuse in the last five years.

Jared emphasized that “the earliest someone uses, the greater likelihood of addiction.” Heroin is extremely addictive. This is a real problem in the St Louis area, and it is increasingly serious among teens. Most heroin abusers indicate they never knew about heroin’s addictive and dependency issues. That is why getting the information out is so important.

The NCADA has put together an informative website to provide teens and parents a resource to discover the facts about heroin. We encourage you to check it out today. If you know or suspect someone has a drug problem, step up and get them some help. You may save their life.