Police Address Heroin With Community at Parkway Central Forum

Parkway School District, St. Louis County police and other community organizations are hosting a town hall meeting on the dangers of heroin at Central High School, Monday.

"It is open to anyone in the community. They don't have to have kids in Parkway. They may attend one of the private schools, but this is a community event," Parkway District spokesperson Cathy Kelly told Patch.

Due to Game 5 of the World Series, Monday's community forum on heroin will be held one hour earlier at 6-7:30 p.m. Monday at Parkway Central High School, at 369 N. Woods Mill Rd.

"Heroin is a huge problem of epidemic proportion to our population, to young adults and to the youth. I mean, we're handling overdoses every day," said St. Louis County Police Department Crisis Intervention Team Coordinator Sgt. Barry Armfield. "Is it to the point where everybody in school is dying? No, but I bet you every student in every school knows who's using and how to get it. And it's cheap. When you have that type of drug that is that potent, it causes instant death. To me that is an epidemic."

Armfield is coordinating the forum with Parkway and other districts around the St. Louis metro area.

"It is a predominantly a middle-class drug that could be comparable to a crack cocaine, which was considered a poor man's drug," Armfield told Patch.

Districts around the St. Louis metro area have recently held similar forums, including Rockwood, Pattonville and Oakville. Parkway Director of Pupil Personnel and Diversity Charlotte Ijei works with counselors and social workers within the Parkway district. She told Patch it was one of those previous forums that made her contact St. Louis County police to bring the information to Parkway.

"I wanted to make sure that our students and parents heard the dangers and warning signs, if not only heroin, but other drugs and prescription drugs, too," Ijei said. "I think kids know to a certain extent that all drugs are bad, but because heroin is a new phenomenon coming through the West County area, kids don't really know the effects of it and how dangerous it can be. We don't want any of our students to even try the drug."

Ijei said the fact that a "hit" of heroin is so cheap is of great concern to school officials.

"When you're talking $10 on a hit, kids can spend their money on this," Ijei said. "We want them to know just how dangerous the first hit can be. They just need to know what they're getting if they are exposed to it."

"Heroin on the street is 30 to 90 percent pure, and there is no way of telling what you're getting," Armfield added.

He said the forum will provide information on how to proactively confront the epidemic, explain law enforcement's role in dealing with the drug, offer services to treat heroin addiction and educate people on signs of heroin use.

"We cover 'This is what a person is going to look like on heroin, the pupils, the burnt spoons, the change in behavior and friends," Armfield told Patch. "Kids generally don't start with heroin. They start out with alcohol, marijuana and then maybe prescription drugs. We'll explain the general path."

The father of young man who overdosed will also speak Monday night about the impact of his son's death on his family.

Ijei said it's a forum that will cover all angles in an effort to keep students alive and safe.

"Just trying to get our students to understand the ramifaciations of getting pulled into something like this—not a good thing."