Lane County received a $1.5 million federal grant Wednesday to combat the area’s growing heroin problem and to help addicts kick the habit.
The Lane County Board of Commissioners accepted the grant, which the county applied for in April while facing increased heroin use and swamped treatment programs.
Oregon ranks third in the country in opiate-related overdose deaths, and Lane County has the second highest overdose death rate in the state. Last year, 34 Lane County residents died of heroin-related causes.
“This grant makes a significant difference in our ability to successfully move people away from heroin and on to a better life,” said Karen Gaffney, assistant director of Lane County Health and Human Services.
The grant, awarded to the county from a $28.8 million pool of federal drug treatment funds, will be used to extend the area’s methadone and outpatient treatment programs to more people.
“We have waiting lists for programs, and that doesn’t help when you have someone in police custody who wants treatment,” Gaffney said. “Now, any day of the year, we’ll be able to serve 100 more people than we did last year.”
During the next three years, funds will be distributed to county heroin treatment programs and several non-profit organizations, including the Association for Children for Enforcement of Support, Centro Latino-Americano, Looking Glass Youth and Family Services, the White Bird Clinic and Willamette Family Treatment Services.
Gaffney said the expanded services will help those who are often hard to reach, including at least 1,000 adolescents, 2,000 adults, 1,000 rural adolescents and adults and 1,000 Latino adults.
Police and social service workers have said that an increased availability of cheap heroin has caused the recent boom in heroin use.
“It’s gotten a lot cheaper, and there’s a lot of it out there,” said Bob Richards, program director of the Buckley Detoxification and Sobering Center, a division of Willamette Family Treatment Services.
The average price for a gram of heroin in Lane County dropped over the past few years from $100 to $40, said Kevin McCormick, a detective for the Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team.
“Even at $40 a gram, it’s a very profitable, low-risk item,” he said.
McCormick said most of the heroin in the county is smuggled from Mexico and distributed to many dealers, who carry only small quantities to avoid getting busted for selling narcotics.
Also, the chic, rock-and-roll image of heroin has contributed to the increased use, he said.
“It’s cool stuff because River Phoenix did it, John Belushi did it, lots of rich, famous people did it. Heck, Jerry Garcia did it, so it’s seen as a cool thing to do,” he said.
Richards added that the cool image of heroin is a recent development.
“In my generation, the word ‘heroin’ would send people running away,” Richards, who is in his 50s, said. “But I don’t see that now.”