Southeastern Missouri is on the front end of a potential heroin overdose epidemic that is reminiscent of a similar situation that gripped St. Louis between 2007 and 2011.
During that time, heroin moved out of the inner city and into the suburbs, where the drug became more common among middle class users. Now, it’s spreading into rural Missouri.
Jane Pfefferkorn is the executive director of Mission Missouri, a drug recovery center in Sikeston. She says heroin often creeps into areas where prescription drug use is well-entrenched, like southeastern Missouri.
“It’s not that inner city drug any longer. It’s not attached to a needle. It can be snorted or smoked. It’s very inexpensive. We know that the prescription drug epidemic is already here and that is normally a precursor to heroin,” Pfefferkorn said. Those indicators include widespread prescription drug abuse, more treatment admissions for prescription drugs and a demographic shift - heroin has moved off skid row and into middle and upper class neighborhoods.
Pfefferkorn said 80 percent of heroin addicts started with prescription pills like OxyContin. That drug’s manufacturer changed its formula to make it more difficult to abuse in 2010. A Washington University study found that change led many prescription pill abusers to cheaper, more powerful heroin.
Scott County sheriff Rick Walter says the drug is abundant in his county and its price continues to decline. “People are looking at it as a cheap high,” Walter said. “It’s here. There’s no doubt about that. If you want heroin, it’s here. You can get it.”
Walter said the heroin supply is growing, and the drug’s price continues to decline.
“The word on the street is, whenever you want heroin, do you want Chicago heroin or do want St. Louis? Chicago will come down and go through the Mississippi County Charleston area. St. Louis heroin will come straight down I-55.” Walter said.