Milton, Rochester police see heroin usage spike

Before Seacoast cops and state Drug Task Force agents swooped in to crack a ring of street level heroin dealers in mid-November, law enforcement already knew what the public now knows.
Heroin usage is on an incredible upswing, and it’s been trending upward the past few years.
A Milton woman, Chelsea Glover, 21, of 69 Charles St., was among eight Seacoast residents arrested in the Portsmouth-area sweep. Glover was said to have been frequenting Milton at least two months before her arrest.
Another Milton resident, Michael Francis, 24, of 15 Liberty Circle, was indicted last month on felony heroin possession charges by a Strafford County grand jury after being previously convicted for heroin possession in March 2011 in Rockingham Superior Court.
Milton Police Chief Richard Krauss is all-too familiar with the skyrocketing usage of heroin in his town the past several years.

Chelsea Glover

He said two years ago there were three arrests for heroin. Last year there were nine. This year there are nine already with almost another month to go.
“And you know if we’ve arrested nine, that’s only a percentage of the users,” he added.
While it’s a small number sampling, the spike factors out to a 300 percent increase, a staggering figure.
Krauss said it’s mostly a matter of economics.
Heroin is cheap, even cheaper than prescription drugs that promote a heroin-like high like oxycodone and Percocet.
“The heroin is cheaper and easier to obtain than prescription medication,” Krauss said.
Krauss said another factor driving users to street heroin is that doctors are tightening up on their prescription protocols, which in turn cranks the supply and demand model and propels the upward surge in cost.
A well-respected heroin website, www.heroin.net suggests that
the average cost of a single dose of heroin (purchased on the street) is about $10-$25.
Heroin can be injected, smoked or snorted, but Krauss said the predominant delivery method in Milton is by needle, which is the most dangerous of all. He said at the majority of heroin arrests he’s come across, spent needles are found at the scene or on the suspect.
Rochester has seen its own dramatic rise in heroin usage.
“It’s taken over for prescription drugs,” said Rochester Police Captain Paul Toussaint, who also pointed to economics as the drug’s chief allure.
He said most of the heroin that comes to Rochester and the Seacoast is coming up from Massachusetts cities like Lowell and Lawrence
Rochester’s heroin problem is seen by police as such a priority that the department has two plainclothes detectives who, among other duties, work to root out the street level dealers.

For whatever reason, Maine State Police Lt. Louis Nyitray, commander of Troop A in Alfred which patrols Lebanon, said they haven't seen the dramatic spike in heroin usage like Milton and Rochester, but prescription narcotics continue to be a stubborn problem, both as they relate to drug abuse and the burglaries and thefts used as a means to feed the addiction. 

If you or someone you know has a heroin addiction, they can get help in Maine, at CSI, 474 Main Street, Springvale (207) 459-7289; and in New Hampshire, at
Southeastern New Hampshire Alcohol & Drug Treatment Services, Crisis Center, County Farm Road, Dover (866) 567-4793.