What does everyone think of this blockbuster quote?

Occurrence · March-05-12, 05:59 PM

Not my thing, but I have NEVER heard this regarding heroin.

"I can't give you hard numbers, but we know it's here, and we're constantly amazed at how young the users are getting," said Detective Sgt. Deron Myers of the Chesterfield Township Police Department. "Years ago, you'd never fathom a 15-, 16-, 17-year-old using heroin. It was considered an inner-city, Cass Corridor drug."

Seriously? Someone actually said this and it was printed.

**Detroitnerd** · March-05-12, 06:15 PM

I don't know. I think he's telling the truth. It ain't pretty, but I'm hardly surprised he associates heroin with the Cass Corridor.

**Traxus** · March-05-12, 06:19 PM

I went to high school on the west side, but from what I understand, when I was a senior in back in 2005, the freshman class had rampant[[relative to maybe one or two kids in higher classes) coke/heroin use.

**iheartthed** · March-05-12, 06:21 PM

This weekend I was on a commuter train in New Jersey and saw an ad about the purity of heroin that was clearly aimed at suburban residents [[obvious I know, since I saw it on a suburban commuter train). I personally didn't know anyone was still doing heroin, suburban or city dweller, which is why it stuck out to me.

**christos** · March-05-12, 06:22 PM

I always thought heroin was pretty much the opposite- a problem in the burbs. This reminds me of the time at the Troy City Council Meeting where some guy doing an anti transit presentation referred to a bus in Troy as the "heroin express!"

Occurrence · March-05-12, 06:36 PM

Saying it's an inner city fad is one thing, but why is he singling out Cass Corridor? That's what confuses me. The corridor doesn't really cross my mind when I think of the drug.

**Wheels** · March-05-12, 07:23 PM

Originally Posted by Occurrence

Saying it's an inner city fad is one thing, but why is he singling out Cass Corridor? That's what confuses me. The corridor doesn't really cross my mind when I think of the drug.

You are joking Right? Right? Right?

Or are you very young and naive?

**Jimaz** · March-05-12, 07:25 PM

A link to the article in question: Heroin addiction rising in metro Detroit suburbs

This was on the front page of today's hardcopy Free Press.

**EastsideAl** · March-05-12, 07:29 PM

Had you been around Detroit in the 1970s you certainly would have associated the inner city, very much including the Corridor, with heroin.

It doesn't surprise me that heroin is now a suburban thing. Today's heroin is mostly too expensive for people in the city, and most people here have seen junkies and know it's pretty much a one-way ride to no place good.

But heroin does seem like a logical next step from crushing and shooting or snorting oxycodone or other synthesized opiate pills, which are the current teenage suburban heavy drugs of choice.

**Hamtragedy** · March-05-12, 07:37 PM

Perhaps one of the best lines I ever heard come out of the corridor was "the only good junkie is a dead junkie", which is, needless to say, a little harsh.

I know personally some who "reigned supreme" the Cass Corridor in the 90's. When "hair-wan" became available in nose-candy form in the 90's, all bets were off as to heroin being a slum only drug. Suburbanites sought it out frequently, and when that high wudn't enough, shootin' it was right behind.

The Cass Corridor was notorious for breeding lost souls, and "hare-on" didn't let several of its victims out. Bodies in dumpsters, including those of suburbanites were frequent, cuz nobody wanted to be the ones gettin busted when their friend OD'd. I know a few who flagged dates to support their habits. Others broke into people's houses and stole stupid shit, cuz a bunch of cd's must be worth something.

I also know people who were able to get out, amid much rehab and support, and are productive members of society, two of them post-graduate degree holders, but they continue helping other addicts along the way to overcome their addictions The recidivism rate for the junk is still an astounding 90-plus percent for those that live to tell about it. And kids are still hitting the Cass Corridor lookin for it.

**Bham1982** · March-05-12, 08:10 PM

Originally Posted by Occurrence

Saying it's an inner city fad is one thing, but why is he singling out Cass Corridor? That's what confuses me. The corridor doesn't really cross my mind when I think of the drug.

You do realize that the Cass Corridor has been closely associated with junkies for a good half-century, correct?

Cass Corridor became Detroit's #1 Skid Row following urban renewal along Grand River in the 50's and 60's.

And, while much diminished compared to past decades, the Corridor is still very much a junkie nexus. I mean, a random drive from Wayne to downtown at any hour will confirm this.

**Detroitnerd** · March-05-12, 08:46 PM

Originally Posted by Bham1982

And, while much diminished compared to past decades, the Corridor is still very much a junkie nexus. I mean, a random drive from Wayne to downtown at any hour will confirm this.

I don't know about that. I get much more of a "crackhead" vibe from most people shambling around the Corridor.

**DetroitPlanner** · March-05-12, 09:07 PM

I started spending a great deal of time in places like the corridor and downtown in the early 1980's. CC was definitely a place you would need to watch your back in those days.

CC holds a special place in my heart. When grandma first arrived in Detroit from Flint she lived at Second and Peterboro. Years later her first teaching job was at the Burton School.

**downtown_racine** · March-05-12, 10:37 PM

A hare-on junkie and a crackhead are one in the same. I heard hare-on was cheap in the suburbs and people like it because it doesn't stink like pot and its less likely to get busted with ? Yeah if you don't OD and get dumped as mentioned. Pills too oh the pills, forget the illicit stuff just go for the legal dpe, you cant beat that stuff I hear ?

Crackheads in da' burbs and in the U.P. as well. The drugs folks do in other countries is insane as well. For some intoxication is one of the human drives, others not so much

**ordinary** · March-05-12, 10:43 PM

Actually the quote doesn't surprise me. In my neighborhood in St. Clair Shores there was a mini epidemic of it among teenagers.

**professorscott** · March-05-12, 10:44 PM

I have always thought illegal drugs had their own demographic maps, just like ethnicities but much harder to study.

So just like in any urban region there are areas where people of Italian descent congregate, or people of Korean descent, or Iraqi or east African or wherever, by the same token in any urban region there are places where the potheads tend to live, also those who prefer to use crack, meth, heroin, whatever.

Since people ordinarily do not submit to telephone surveys about their choice of narcotic, it's not easy to accurately draw the maps in detail, but I bet any police department could give you an idea within the particular city.

Nevertheless, the officer's comment in the story was that of an ignoramus. It's a shame that some policemen aren't able to keep their racism in check even when talking to the fourth estate.

**detroitsgwenivere** · March-05-12, 10:50 PM

I still hang in the Corridor, and lived there as a teen. There's hardly anyone left to call that place a hotbed for heroin. Crack maybe, and even that's not as big as once was.

All the bigboy spots moved to the eastside, Ryan north to Gratiot south. Bigtime off Van Dyke and Harper, which is why Warren, Sterling Heights, and Shelby Twp. had asked the Macomb Co. sherriffs to step up the bus-busts. You would see plainclothes waiting in unmarked cruisers at busy stops all along the 510 route.

**detroitsgwenivere** · March-05-12, 10:55 PM

Originally Posted by professorscott

by the same token in any urban region there are places where the potheads tend to live...

Potheads live EVERYWHERE my friend

**poobert** · March-05-12, 11:23 PM

Originally Posted by Occurrence

Not my thing, but I have NEVER heard this regarding heroin.

"I can't give you hard numbers, but we know it's here, and we're constantly amazed at how young the users are getting," said Detective Sgt. Deron Myers of the Chesterfield Township Police Department. "Years ago, you'd never fathom a 15-, 16-, 17-year-old using heroin. It was considered an inner-city, Cass Corridor drug."

Seriously? Someone actually said this and it was printed.

Following his lead, and since suburbanites ALWAYS ask me "how is the crime in your neighborhood?" and "do you shop for groceries in the suburbs?" I'm going to start asking people from Chesterfield Township how their teenage heroin epidemic is working out for them.

Ravine · March-06-12, 05:31 AM

C'mon gang, give the cop a break.
Sometimes a person is talking and, on the way to expressing their thought, they just use something as a point of reference. I doubt that he was sweating the degree of factual correctness or lack thereof.
Not everyone keeps up with the crap that is seen, on DetroitYes!, as being excruciatingly important. The guy surely doesn't realize that the term "Cass Corridor" is now all but socially illegal, and he undoubtedly is not keeping up with what was, or currently is, the Narcotic of Choice in "Midtown."

**Dexlin** · March-06-12, 06:56 AM

No, the question is whether you are serious, occurrence. He specifically said "years ago" it was a problem in the Cass Corridor, and anyone who denies that must have been shooting up in the Cass Corridor at the time. You have got to be kidding to get all huffy over a historical fact.

I swear, sometimes, this board. Boy oh boy.

Ravine · March-06-12, 08:03 AM

Originally Posted by Dexlin

No, the question is whether you are serious, occurrence. He specifically said "years ago" it was a problem in the Cass Corridor, and anyone who denies that must have been shooting up in the Cass Corridor at the time. You have got to be kidding to get all huffy over a historical fact.

I swear, sometimes, this board. Boy oh boy.

I'm glad to see that I'm not alone in noticing a trend here.

**Wheels** · March-06-12, 09:23 AM

Originally Posted by professorscott

Nevertheless, the officer's comment in the story was that of an ignoramus. It's a shame that some policemen aren't able to keep their racism in check even when talking to the fourth estate.

How in the world could you turn this into a racist remark. The Cass Corridor of the Heroin days had a mix of many ethnic background and a large number of Caucasian. In fact the drive thru addicts from the burbs were all white. Calling this a racist statement is way off base.

**RO_Resident** · March-06-12, 11:01 AM

Originally Posted by Dexlin

No, the question is whether you are serious, occurrence. He specifically said "years ago" it was a problem in the Cass Corridor, and anyone who denies that must have been shooting up in the Cass Corridor at the time. You have got to be kidding to get all huffy over a historical fact.

I swear, sometimes, this board. Boy oh boy.

And to this point, wasn't the rebranding of this area as 'Midtown' a conscious choice to move past the Cass Corridor stereotype?

**douglasm** · March-06-12, 03:57 PM

I've been watching this thread, and the only thing that came to mind is it must have been a slow news day. Nothing against Detective Meyers, but this story....or ones like it.....seem to pop up every 5 to 10 years with the screaming headline "DRUGS INVADE 'BURBS" as if it was a great discovery. Makes me feel good to know that the Chesterfield Township Police Department realises there's apparently a drug problem in their community. Where they been all these years?