Does the Scenic City Have a Heroin Problem?

Police bust a major heroin ring in Chattanooga over the weekend, so does that mean heroin is becoming a big problem for the scenic city?

"You can snort it. You can smoke it. But typically what I've seen is people inject it."

The stigma of injecting, she says, is what usually deters people from using heroin. And here at CADAS they haven't seen a major problem when heroin yet. But Debbie Loudermilk the Director of Outpatient Services, says that could always change.

"The category that heroin's in is the opiate use. We do have a lot of people coming in using other forms of opiates, such as oxycontin and other pills, hydrocodone and those kinds of things," said Loudermilk.

Loudermilk says the typical heroin user is a caucasian male, late teens to early 20's and someone who will spend anywhere from $20 to $60 to get their fix. It's an expensive drug and a dangerous one. Chronic users be have liver of kidney disease, heart infections, abscesses, and other infectious diseases.

Over the weekend, a four month investigation lead to a heroin drug ring bust. Clarence Roberts and James "Preston" Brown, both of Chattanooga, were arrested and charged with four counts of possession of heroin for resale. This, Loudermilk says could mean more folks may coming, seeking help.

"We may see some with this bust, if there's a large ring that's pulled up off the street, what it might mean if there are a lot of people who are not able to obtain heroin, they may be coming in for services, now," Loudermilk said.