Heroin Addiction from One Who's Been There

Some interesting words about heroin from one who knows:

If you want to genuinely help people now would be the time...Heroin is in Florence full swing. I use to know everyone in the quad cities who had a heroin connection...Now there are wayyyy more people than I know. Just in one day last week I discovered 7 people who are hardcore addicted to H, and I am completely out of the drug scene now. Please if you do not mind let people know about STC (Shoals Treatment Center), it is a Methadone clinic in Sheffield. It can totally change someones life, and the people there are good people. I know it is hard to reach people, but if you ever come into contact with someone who legitimately is seeking help from heroin, I do not mind helping them. It ruined my life. Never did I think I would have a normal life again, and many people think this way. Sorry if this seems demanding or jumbled. I am just pretty upset at what is happening. Thanks a lot.

What is your opinion on this? Florence PD did there new "big time" heroin bust recently...Well if a person who has recently gotten in trouble with Lauderdale County seeks a Dr's treatment for opiate addiction and get prescribed Buprenorphine or Dolophine (methadone) then they will go to jail if they fail a drug test. Even if a Dr is precribing the medication. Shouldn't the Doctor, who earned a medical degree, be the one who decided what medication the person needs? I personally witnessed someone get screwed by this system. Someone who REALLY wanted help. The only help the DA gave them was forcing them to pay in more money to the city. The people who are truly are rock bottom usually have nothing left. Our city truly needs a revamping. There is a real problem in Florence, but when there is no help out there and only punishment it makes it so much harder. I really want to help people...And if you have someone with a heroin problem or such and they want a better life - please send them my way...Im sure I dont need to give you my opinion on this subject THANKS!

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We wish we had answers. All the best to our friend who wrote the above commentary. (For everyone who fails like John Wesley Akin, there is one who succeeds as our friend has!)



Shoalanda

Quality Control for Heroin?

There have been some recent comments/questions concerning “bad heroin.” It seems everyone has their opinion. We decided to ask someone who works in the medical field to comment.

I found this question interesting, since I’d never really thought about it before. First, how strong is most heroin? The drug is derived from the poppy plant, but it can be assumed that as with marijuana, some plants are more potent than others. Heroin from China would not have the same strength as heroin from Mexico, etc. There are some relatively inexpensive hand held scanners that can determine molecular content and therefore purity of anything from drugs to gold, but it might be a safe bet that street dealers don’t use them. So I have no firm idea how anyone locally would be able to determine the strength of the product he was selling and/or taking.

From what I’ve read, the drug is usually diluted, or cut, with another substance, and maybe many times before it reaches the end user. I read a lot about fentanyl being used in some areas of the country. I found it hard to believe since the drug is so highly regulated. The end product you would see in the private setting would almost always be in a patch (brand name Duragesic) used for patients with uncontrollable pain.

Researching this, I learned that there are many analogs of this drug (similar but not quite the same). It would still take either a chemist of a super thief to provide the quantity of these drugs that would be able to dilute heroin to the needed extent.

Police have said the product which killed the four locals wasn’t diluted. I don’t know if that’s their opinion or if they have the toxocology reports back. It it wasn’t diluted, this would be unusual. I would hope the gentleman who was arrested for trafficking the heroin informed the police where he obtained the drug.

Shoalanda

Who Were the Five?

Who were the five? The five Shoals residents who have recently seen their worldly exits hastened due to some bad heroin? No, we don’t need to know their names even though some have been suggested to us, but we can infer some basics without ever knowing any actual identities.

Each of the five died in Florence and probably had the same dealer. If not the same immediate dealer, the drugs sold to these five unfortunate souls came from the same source via those lower down in the hierarchy. It’s only a matter of time before authorities can name him...and arrest him.

Can he be charged with some sort of homicide? Probably, but if he has enough prior convictions, he can be given Life Without Parole strictly on a the basis of being a habitual offender. The penalties for selling heroin or other such Schedule I drugs are extremely stiff in Alabama. 

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Can we be sure this unknown, unnamed dealer will be captured? Nothing in life is sure, but we’re guessing there will be those only too happy to name names, reward or not.

It wasn’t that long ago that a young Muscle Shoals man died after taking what he thought was LSD. No one was ever charged in his death, but our sources (and did we ever learn a few things) explained how such designer drugs made their way to the Shoals via the Silk Road (now shut down?) or other secretive online sources.

Heroin is different. In the past 12 months, there have been several dealers arrested, but none has made his way to trial as of this date. These individuals are still free—out on bail. God help them if they’ve continued to deal in this drug. God will forgive them, but the courts of Alabama will not.

Shoalanda