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Addicted In Alaska, Part 1 in a Series on Heroin Use in the StateHooked on heroin: Path to illegal drug often begins legallyRelated Content
ANCHORAGE - An infant massage class isn’t typically associated with drug addiction, but the mothers attending a February session in downtown Anchorage aren’t exactly typical.
“I’ll always be an addict, whether I'm using or in recovery,” said Rita Hazen, a 35-year-old mother of three, as she held her 5-month-old son. “...Heroin, painkillers, anything I could melt down, put into a spoon and shoot up.” Hazen had been using for years when she learned she was pregnant. Abortion, she said, was not an option. She had heard help was available downtown at the Center for Drug Problems on East 4th Avenue. “Pregnant women will get immediate access, but everybody else will wait at least a year before they get in this program,” said Ron Greene, the center’s clinical director. There are 15 people on that wait list, struggling to survive until they can get help, Greene said. They need to call him every week to maintain their names on that list, and the calls are heartbreaking. “’Mr. Greene, I’m killing myself. I'm out here, I’m prostituting. I'm doing this, I'm doing that. My kids haven't eaten in three or four days.’ Sometimes, I just hang up the phone, close my door and I put my head on my desk and I cry, because these people are asking for help.” The center is helping 104 people, but it has just enough money to treat 100, Greene said. Hazen is one of the lucky ones. The story of how the mother of three ended up at CDP 11 months ago began 15 years ago. "When I started getting on painkillers for my back after the birth of my first child, it was things like Vicodin, Tylenol 3's; really mild stuff,” Hazen said. Eight years later, a family tragedy pushed her to the brink, then came divorce. The newly single mother was also trying to finish her final year at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. The pressures were overwhelming. The pills offered an escape. “I wanted desperately something to feel like it was normal and not to feel pain any more,” Hazen recalled, wiping away tears as she held her infant son. “It went from taking the painkillers to abusing them to crushing them up and snorting them because I wanted to get a faster high.” When her doctor stopped writing her prescriptions, Hazen went to another doctor, then from doctor to dealer. “The first time I really, really tried heroin was right after Christmas dinner,” Hazen said. “I went with [my dealer] to a hotel in Spenard and he brought me inside. He had a clean needle and we sat inside somebody's hotel room and [for] fifty dollars, I got high.” Soon, the college graduate and middle-class mother was hooked on heroin. ”I'm just your normal girl next door,” Hazen said. “It could really happen to anybody.” |
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Ami said on Wednesday, Sep 26 at 1:31 PM
You are awesome! keep up the hard work and do right by your son, you are on the raod to success, just keep steering straight and life will be yours for the taking! So proud of you1
102735125cooljulie said on Sunday, Feb 26 at 3:40 PM
JIM said it best- scroll down and read his comment, then call your representatives in government and ask THEM the same questions Jim poses.
82334584Autumn said on Thursday, Feb 23 at 3:24 PM
I am also a patient at CDP. It has truly changed my life. I can hold down a job now. My first thought in the morning is not where am I going to find my pills today, am I going to be sick today... I would never wish even my worst enemy to go thru the withdrawals I've been thru.I don't have to hustle and run a game anymore. CDP has given me the opportunity to take control of my life. I have gained back my self esteem, my self worth. Ron, Debra, and all of the people that work at CDP truly care about me.
82065784robert newman said on Thursday, Feb 23 at 5:06 AM
How is it possible to justify TWO methadone maintenance clinics in a huge state like Alaska? How to live with the fact that addicts who desperately ant and need treatment are forced to wait many, many months before help is offered? Not only is this unconscionable state of affairs destroying - and ending! - lives of those who are dependent, but the entire society pays the price! Could one imagine two prenatal clinics in the State? A year (!) wait to receive prenatal care? It’s outrageous - and unnecessary. The key ingredient lacking to correct this unconscionable situation is commitment to do something about it.
82003372Mike said on Wednesday, Feb 22 at 4:06 PM
Heroin is a death sentence. Please please please people do not be lured into using. It will ruin you. You will no longer have even an inkling of control left. The Heroin uptick started with Oxycontin back when. Adults please treat your prescriptions responsibly, they are akin to a loaded weapon in the wrong hands. If you know an addict please try and get them some help. I know, my oldest son is a heroin addict...heartbreaking to watch that happen to you kid.
81964613Jim said on Wednesday, Feb 22 at 3:48 PM
The drug war has failed, while actually creating more drug dealer and addicts by making them fear the government authorities, who make their living by prosecuting them. If the government really wants to rid society of drug use, they why can't addicts who WANT help given the support to help end their addiction. Could it be because the government really doesn't care about people with addictions and really doesn't want to end the source of their wealth and prosperity, which is the Drug War...
81963354go natural said on Wednesday, Feb 22 at 2:34 PM
natures drugs have been around since humans started breathing, we are hardwired to expand our consciousness.
81956341Jeff said on Wednesday, Feb 22 at 2:27 PM
Kids are walking around with drugs like they are carrying bubble gum. They have no fear of neither the legal nor physical health consequences of drugs. Myteensavers counselors treats teen addicts. Many of them say that they faced very few deterrents when beginning their drug use. The say that their parents did not take an active role in pushing the anti-drug message. They also say home drug testing could have prevented them or detected early drug use. The schools need to do what is best for their students and the learning environment. Parents need to realize that they are fueling some of these drug habits with unattended prescriptions.
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