Community ‘finally’ cares about heroin

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Updated: March 17, 2012 10:18AM

The woman and I got out of our cars at about the same time.

As we rushed toward the 95th Street Library in Naperville — both running late because of traffic congestion and moving at a fast clip — she became noticeably emotional as we watched what was enfolding around us.

Hundreds of cars jammed the parking lot of the library, spilling out onto the street. People were parked at the Jewel; many were driving in circles in search of a spot to land, creating logjams before finally settling in next to the baseball field at Neuqua Valley High School.

And still the cars kept coming — headlights backing up on 95th for well over a mile.

“This is what needed to happen,” she said, tears in her eyes. “Finally, the community is starting to care.”

As we reached the library doors, it became obvious how much. The forum on heroin abuse was scheduled to start any minute, yet a long line — made up of kids and adults alike — was backed up along the sidewalk as they waited to enter the lobby and hallway that also were crammed with folks who couldn’t get into the standing-room-only meeting room itself.

The unexpected crowd forced presenters to make a last-minute decision to hold another session, with those in the second group waiting patiently in the hallway for 90 minutes.

And still hundreds were turned away.

Naperville has had its awakening. Probably more so after Monday night, when disturbing death scene photos were only part of an in-your-face presentation by the police department’s special operations unit and addictions counselor Kimberly Groll.

Sitting in the front row, Karen Hanneman watched in rapt attention until the pictures of dead heroin users — all young, all local — flashed on the giant screen.

She lowered her head then, unable to look.

Thirteen months ago, her son died of an overdose at a small business office in Wheatland Township. Emergency crews responded to the call, but 21-year-old Justin Tokar had already become yet another statistic added to the long list of heroin-related deaths in our communities.

Since burying her son, Hanneman has worked tirelessly with a group of local leaders to address the problem. But viewing these photos, she said, “is still too hard.”

Thankfully, everyone else in that packed room had their eyes open wide. Let’s hope they stay that way — and not just in the Will County portion of the city that cops call “ground zero” of the local heroin epidemic.

“Naperville finally gets it. Now the others towns need to do the same,” said Hanneman. “Don’t kid yourself. It’s a huge problem here, but heroin is in all our schools, all our communities.”

Even here, as encouraging as it was to see this overwhelming turnout, the question discussed among Indian Prairie School District educators, government officials and parents alike was: How do we take this unexpected surge of interest and convert it into a culture — in homes, schools and elsewhere — that will last long after the haunting death images are forgotten?

For example: As the second meeting got under way, Neuqua Valley Principal Bob McBride spoke passionately about the need to encourage disclosure among students — to help them understand that if they tell an adult someone is using, they’re not snitching but saving a life.

Certainly, there’s plenty that parents can do now, beginning with: Stop trying to be your kid’s friend. Clean up your own act, including your medicine chest. Learn the signs of drug abuse. Monitor your kids’ cellphones, Facebooks and friends like there’s no tomorrow.

Because, according to the powerful message of this forum, there may not be.