It s very unusual, disturbing and scary. It feels like a city thing, but it s not. Across the nation, heroin s availability and use are on the rise. I m afraid for the kids.
Local police understand the drug is in the area, but that information is second-hand.
But just because we haven t made any arrests, doesn t mean it s not there. Heroin, processed from morphine, has been around for more than a century. Originally, it was used around the world as a pain killer, according to Jack Slomback, an Ellsworth substance abuse counselor who teaches addictions courses at the University of Maine in Orono and Husson College in Bangor. The narcotic, a derivative of the opium poppy, acts fast. Seconds after injected into a vein or minutes after smoked or sniffed, the user is seized by an intense feeling of euphoria.