Once a drug reserved for more extreme users, heroin has grown in popularity in East Baton Rouge Parish in the last two years.
Although heroin is relatively uncommon on campus — LSU Police Department reported three heroin related arrests in 2013 — prescription painkillers hold a connection to the drug.
Vincent Wilson, director of Undergraduate Programs for the School of the Coast and Environment, teaches a course in toxicology and said heroin is created from a small chemical change in morphine, but poor chemistry often leads to toxic additives.
Heroin and the painkiller codeine both come from the same group of drugs. When people abuse painkillers, their bodies begin to develop a tolerance and dependency, Wilson said.
“If you take it at a high dosage and high frequency, you build a physical dependency, and your body actually needs it to feel normal, and you build a tolerance,” Wilson said.
Shane Evans, chief of investigations at the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office, said prescription painkiller abuse and heroin use have recently become closely related.
The Louisiana Board of Pharmacy monitors individuals who receive pain prescriptions electronically and prevents individuals from doctor shopping for prescriptions, preventing prescription abuse, Evans said.
Now with less availability for prescription drugs, Evans said people obtain a similar high from illegal sources.
Evans said reduced penalties for heroin distributors and increased prescription monitoring have contributed to heroin-related deaths in East Baton Rouge Parish.
“The reduced sentences and decreased availability of prescriptions, those two come together for a perfect storm,” Evans said.
Because of doctor confidentiality laws, it’s difficult to learn about the drug, but Evans said heroin kills people of all ages, sexes, races and demographics.
Evans said there were five heroin-related deaths in East Baton Rouge Parish in 2012 and 35 in 2013.
LSUPD Spokesman Capt. Cory Lalonde said there have been five LSUPD heroin-related arrests since 2006, and none of those people were affiliated with the University.
“As of right now, we are not coming across a lot of [heroin] on campus,” Lalonde said.
Kathryn Saichuk, Student Health Center health promotion coordinator, said there are other health concerns when an individual turns to heroin, like those that come with sharing needles — hepatitis, HIV and sores at injection sites.
“The reduced sentences and decreased availability of prescriptions, those two come together for a perfect storm.”