School Officials and Police Warn of Rise In Local Teen Heroin Use

After several recent overdoses believed to be heroin related, Palos area school officials are voicing their concerns about an increase in the usage of the dangerous drug among teens. 

In a letter to parents that was sent Thursday, District 230 superintendent James Gay encouraged parents to talk with their children about the issue and consult the district's website and guidance departments for additional resources. 

The letter told parents that there have recently been:

 "disturbing stories about dangerous and sometimes deadly behavior in which teens in the south suburbs have been engaging. News reports include underage drinking and law enforcement concerns over the increase in availability of drugs, particularly heroin."

Read a full copy of the letter on District 230's website. 

report that last week a 19-year-old Palos Heights resident suffered a non-fatal heroin overdose.

police are currently investigating the Dec. 31 death of an 18-year-old former student where the drug is believed to have been a factor, said Deputy Chief James Boie. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office has yet to determine an exact cause of death, pending toxicology reports. 

Police are close to making an arrest in that case, Boie said.

Palos Heights Deputy Chief Bill Czajkowski said that in the last year the department has responded to 4 or 5 heroin overdoses. Those calls were not all teens however, Czajkowski said. 

Several months ago officials from the Palos Hills, Palos Heights, Alsip and Chicago police departments and the DEA met to discuss heroin usage in their areas.

Police Chief Joe Miller says that over the last few years the drug has been making a comeback.

"It has become kind of like a party drug lately,"  Miller said. 

The ability of users to snort, smoke or inject the drug has contributed to its rise, Miller said.

Czajkowski  was involved in a task force in the 1990s that dealt with shipments of heroin entering the country from overseas. He says the danger of the drug is the purity at which it arrives stateside.

"When it gets cut down here different chemicals are used making the strength difficult to predict," Czajkowski said.

Palos Heights sends any heroin that is recovered to be tested so its orgins could be tracked.

"The problem is there is very little cooperation when people overdose," Czajkowski said.

He says this wall of silence makes it difficult to trace back where the drug was purchased.

Boie says that as far as he is aware, Palos Hills police have not responded to any calls about heroin use or distribution at itself.

The school encourages parents and students to browse the page on District 230's website that is devoted to substance abuse resources.  

If you are a District 230 parent share what you have heard about heroin usage in the comments section.