Mar 20, 2003 By April Straughters 7 min read

Twenty-year-old Mary has been addicted to heroin for a year. She said about eight to 10 hours in a day can pass before she starts to feel sick and needs the drug.

Mary used to snort five bags of heroin a day, one or two bags at a time. Now, she is injecting heroin into her veins – four bags at a time, four or five times a day.

Mary showed the scars and bruising on her arms – tracks left from the needles she pulled from her “black bag,” which includes a whole kit of drug paraphernalia.

Detective Al Coghill, a member of the Canonsburg Police Department and Washington County Drug Task Force, introduced Mary (via videotape) to a group of administrators, counselors and teachers at the monthly joint meeting of the California Campus Community Coalition and the PEACE Project Campus Community Resource Team, where he was the guest speaker.

Coghill’s presentation on drugs, primarily heroin, which he said is the drug of choice among teens today, included a video of Mary, a young heroin addict, who discussed her addiction.

In an effort to educate those in attendance, Coghill showed the room examples of drugs, like marijuana, crack cocaine and oxycontin (OCs).

But Coghill’s message was geared toward educating people on heroin and its overwhelming attractiveness to young people.

According to Coghill, he has seen children as young as 12 years old addicted to heroin. He said drug arrests in the Canonsburg area continue to increase dramatically, with 10 arrests made just last week.

After meeting with the group at California University, Coghill said he would visit a Washington County school, where he would confront a 14-year-old girl who is addicted to heroin.

Coghill got the girl’s name from her dealer, who was recently arrested.

“I try to be pro-active. I ask the dealers who’s using; they usually give me five to six names. I go and talk to these kids, off the record. I tell them they are not in trouble with the law. Slowly, they begin to break down and tell me a lot of information. I’ve gotten a lot of kids to go to rehab after they admit their addiction to me. The next step is to get the parents involved,” Coghill said.

Coghill said many heroin addicts are high-school age or younger. He said a recent influx of heroin and the cheap cost has made heroin more accessible than marijuana.

He said Colombian drug families have flooded the market in the eastern part of the U.S. with heroin that is 60 to 90 percent pure. He said the purity of heroin allows its users to sniff the drug, instead of injecting it intravenously.

He said that through talking to kids, he’s heard rumors that if a user snorts heroin, it’s not addictive, which he says is not true. But he said he’s noticed that although young users usually begin snorting heroin, they eventually begin to inject it, any way.

In her videotaped interview, Mary said she started her drug addiction with marijuana, and then moved on to cocaine and acid in high school. Soon, she said she began to use drugs daily and eventually started using OCs until they became unavailable and she switched to heroin, which she snorted for six months before she started to inject it.

“I wanted to see what it was like. Others around me liked it. I wanted that experience,” she said.

Mary showed the “baggies” the drugs come in and demonstrated how a user would prepare to inject the drug. She also defined common slang associated with addicts. Her “black bag” contained everything she needed to get high.

Mary’s black bag and its are – to her, at least – much like what an instrument would be to a musician or a paint brush to a painter. She talked about her drug use, the slang, the drugs, the paraphernalia, as if it were a hobby.

She said heroin has become the drug of choice among young people, who eventually will sell their belongings and steal or rob people to support their habit.

“It’s the drug of choice. It’s the most accessible. It’s wiping all other drugs out,” Mary said. “It’s the ultimate high. As soon as you inject it, you are in a state of comfort, very relaxed.”

The aftermath of that “state of comfort” though is sickness. Mary said a person who uses heroin for about a week straight will begin to develop “the symptoms.” She said that, right now, she can go about eight to 10 hours before she begins getting sick and needs a fix.

Mary said she can purchase a bag of heroin for about $15 to $25 on the streets. She said users can also purchase them in “bundles” of 10 for $150 or a “brick,” which is 50 bags, for $450 to $600. She said users primarily get the heroin from the Pittsburgh area, particularly the Northside, Manchester, Wilkinsburg or the McKees Rocks area.

Coghill gave a couple of suggestions to help people, especially teachers and parents, recognize drug use and possibly prevent it.

He said young people will most likely need the drug in the morning, so time in school is a “critical time.”

“If they don’t get the drug in the morning, they will start to be sick. Many will have it ready first thing in the morning,” he said.

Signs to look for, according to Coghill are, flu-like symptoms, goose flesh, muscle spasms, frequent nodding off and tiny pupils (when high). He said once kids start injecting the drug, parents will often find small blood stains on the sleeves.

Coghill said parents should closely watch their medicine cabinets and be aware of alcohol they keep in the house.

“A lot of addictions started with pain medication from the medicine cabinet or alcohol they find in the fridge,” Coghill said.

Coghill said parents should know who their child’s friends are.

“I tell you, without a doubt, no one ever buys drugs from a stranger, for the first time. The one rule I can tell you about drug dealers and drug users is they are introduced to that world by a friend,” he said.

Coghill told stories about tragedies he’s seen among local youths involved in drugs. He said Washington County recently had its first child overdose.

He also told a story about a group of eight 11- and 12-year-olds at a sleepover, who were found on the floor twitching after a drug dealer sold them seizure medication instead of pain killers.

He also told a story of three kids found passed out on the sidewalk in need of resuscitation after a drug overdose.

“It’s out there, and it’s out there strong. These are just Canonsburg examples I’ve worked on, not county-wide,” Coghill said. “Be aware that this drug knows no limit. It does not discriminate. It knows no race. People very rich, people very poor fall victim, but this drug is primarily found in affluent communities.”

Deborah Hoy, a teacher who attended the meeting, said she heard Coghill speak before and thought he should address counselors and administrators at Cal U.

“Watching the faces (of those at the meeting), so intense. You could tell they were taking notes. People are realizing it’s in their own back yard,” Hoy said.