Some serious Spring Break personal policy issues: What should We the People Do?

(Two serious issues on the table to consider over break: First, what should local policy-makers do about a growing perscription drug and heroin problem in the Naperville/Aurora area? Second, what should state and federal authorities do about Stand Your Ground Self-defense laws that collide with the killing of innocent citizens and lingering racial issues. Blog your thoughts if you have time this break.....and DON'T DO the DRUGS!)


The January 2012 death of a Neuqua Valley High School senior from a heroin overdose marked the 7th death in the past year in Naperville, Illinois and highlights the changing demographic of the heroin user. In the 1970s, the average age of first use heroin was 27 years old. Today, the average age of first use heroin is 17 ½ years of age.

One reason for this change is the changing nature of heroin itself. In the 1970s heroin was so dilute (only about 2%) that new users injected the drug from the very start. Today heroin is runs between 35% to 60% purity. At that purity level, adolescents can smoke heroin off a piece of foil rather than inject the drug.

Mistakenly, adolescents believe that addiction only occurs when heroin is injected.

DuPage County is considered a heroin hotspot in that there are more heroin users than cocaine or meth users, unusual for most of Illinois. Heroin arrests also have been increasing in Naperville, with 47 last year, double the number in 2009, according to police. Among Naperville teenagers, there was a 78 percent increase in felony drug arrests in 2011 over the previous year and a 450 percent increase in heroin arrests during that time. The DuPage Metropolitan Enforcement Group reported 59 seizures and undercover purchases throughout the county in 2011, up from 16 in 2008.*

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-heroin-death-0313-20120313,0,3964259

Federal authorities have announced that they are now intervening in the investigation of the killing of Trayvon Martin in Florida. That will certainly enhance the completion of forensic evidence, which we discussed earlier as critical to a case like this one. I have previously cautioned that this is not such an easy case as has been suggested, even with the 911 tapes. One of the greatest barriers is the Florida “Stand Your Ground” law.



Continue reading ‘Florida Shooting Forces Debate Over The “Stand Your Ground” Law’