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Teen's Heroin Overdose Shocking to Some, Not Surprising to Experts

December 27, 2011|By Ted Land | Channel 2 News

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A case this past weekend, involving a 14-year-old Anchorage girl who overdosed after the man hosting a party injected her with heroin, left a lot of Alaskans shocked that such a crime could happen in their community, but local substance abuse treatment experts say they weren't too surprised.

The word on the streets is that not only are a lot of young girls using drugs, they're using a wide variety of them.

"I've had a lot of girls here lately who have tried the Oxycontin, who have tried the heroin, methadone has popped up where a lot of kids are using methadone to get high," said Kelly Eggleston, clinical director at the Salvation Army’s Booth Memorial Home, an Anchorage substance abuse treatment center for girls age 12-18.

"I think for me probably the most disturbing thing we're seeing is the rates of their drug use," Eggleston said.

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The 14-year-old from this weekend's instance is still in critical condition after police say Sean Warner, 26, injected her with a very potent form of heroin, China-White, leaving her in very bad shape.

Paramedics found the girl face-down in her vomit. Police say she had meth, cocaine, and marijuana in her system, in addition to the heroin.

"Heroin is bad, but mixed with everything else it's worse," said Rosalie Nadeau, CEO of Akeela, Inc., a statewide non-profit which provides services for the prevention and treatment of drug abuse.

Nadeau and Eggleston say drugs and alcohol are often provided by older men who are trying to entice girls into a life of prostitution.

"We have a lot of younger girls out there that are associated with older people and in really scary situations," said Eggleston.

Information and advice on how to talk to kids about drugs:

http://www.theantidrug.com/

http://www.drugfree.org/

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