Why is Baltimore the Heroin Capital? (California: 2014, crime, neighborhood)

[B.K.]

Every year we see reports listing Baltimore as one of the biggest, if not the biggest, Heroin hubs in the country, both for users and distribution. How did this happen? How long has this been going on?
I've been here a long time now, and it seems like opiate abuse has a long and uninterrupted history in Baltimore as being a Heroin epicenter for the East Coast. I stopped using drugs a long, long time ago, and was never in to "hard drugs"-by which I mean drugs of addiction: heroin, cocaine, prescription pain killers and tranquilizers, barbiturates, etc.
So why here, and why does it hang on? I see City Health Commission Reports indicating that anywhere from one in ten to one in eight City residents are addicts. I'm not involved in the drug scene, but it seems like I'm constantly either experiencing people I know with former or active experience with the drug, and/or Media reports about the prevalence of this drug in the City.
Why so much heroin here? Why such a high concentration of addicts? Why this particular drug?

[Infinite_heights77]

Blame La Costra Nosta with the help of local Black heroin dealers!

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by B.K.

Why so much heroin here? Why such a high concentration of addicts? Why this particular drug?

Because heroin is a poor person's drug. It is something that someone takes to, eventually, ultimately, escape from reality.

Why Baltimore? Aside from obvious over-abundance of poor, I dunno. On the West Coast it's crack. Or meth. In the MidWest it's meth and maybe coke. New England seems to be battling over opiates and meth. The South is on cough syrup. Pot is everywhere. When I lived in California and Minnesota and Maine/Massachusetts there seemed to a very visible "no heroin" attitude. People just did not tolerate it even though it was around and easy to get. Hypocritical, sure. But that is how it was. A junkie in California is more-than-likely going to do what they can to hide their habit for as long as they can. In Baltimore, few seem to care.

I just do not see that same attitude here. The whole issue is swept under the rug.

[Tiger Beer]

I usually think of Baltimore and Philadephia.

In both cases, I think it's because both use to have tons of industrial jobs for those without a high education. People used to be able to support their families based on the jobs available. Once the jobs dried up and left, the people had a whole lot less hope and self-worth connected to a job. They just kind of socially drifted into heroin, etc.

That, and it seems like people just don't think of it as badly as in other areas. I think the other poster has a point about the "no heroin" attitude in other parts of the country.

Where I grew up in the Midwest, people liked their hallucinatics and other types of recreational drugs. However, I always felt like Heroin was a monster drug, that no one in their right mind would ever touch. It didn't seem to have any 'value'. I mean, hallucinagetics, arguably, expand your mind. Whether that is true or not, is another matter. But, heroin always just seemed like taking on a purely addict role, with little purpose or point to it. You either had to be DEEPLY romantic (in a Curt Kobain rockstart way and want to visually descend like a in a movie kind of way) or a complete and total tool without any sense of consequences whatsoever.

[B.K.]

The thing is tho', it seems like Baltimore's history of opiate abuse is a very long one. From what I understand it was well established before the economic collapse of heavy industry in this town. I've spoken to older people, both black and white who tell me that this was a big heroin town long before the manufacturing jobs disappeared. More than one person has told me that there actually used to be "cough syrup bars" in town that sold shots of narcotic cough syrup to their patrons, and that there was heroin all over the streets at least as long ago as the 'fifties. So I don't think it's all tied up with urban poverty.
I agree, it seems like heroin use does not seem to carry the stigma here that it does in most parts of the country. I had never met a heroin junky before moving here. I have met many, many here, both those in recovery and those still in addiction. Many also tell me that there is a multi-generational history of opiate/heroin abuse in their families. I still just don't get why heroin and why Baltimore?

[debold4215]

Drug carriers tend to use I95 to transport their drugs from Florida to Maine and 95 goes right through Baltimore. Plus we have a significant minority in Baltimore who are involved in all times of crime making them Antisocial. How do they get their drugs ? They rob steal, kill etc. Typically drug users are very narcissistic, that means self centered. They think they should feel good all the time. They can't cope with pain ,loss, emptiness, boredom, and so on. Most of them feel entitled to good feeling good, stealing etc. Most don't work. I wish they did so they could buy their drugs and not hurt other individuals.

[Calvert Hall '62]

Originally Posted by B.K.

The thing is tho', it seems like Baltimore's history of opiate abuse is a very long one. From what I understand it was well established before the economic collapse of heavy industry in this town. I've spoken to older people, both black and white who tell me that this was a big heroin town long before the manufacturing jobs disappeared. More than one person has told me that there actually used to be "cough syrup bars" in town that sold shots of narcotic cough syrup to their patrons, and that there was heroin all over the streets at least as long ago as the 'fifties. So I don't think it's all tied up with urban poverty.

Former Colt Gene "Big Daddy" Lipscomb overdosed on H in 1963. At the time he played for the Steelers, I believe, but he knew where to come for his dose of "horse," right here to an impoverished area in the big B. Recall people saying "What was a big man like that doing in that kind of neighborhood?"

Having said that, I never heard of "cough syrup bars" and growing up in the 50s in Belair-Edison which I guess was considered lower-middle class back then, don't recall H being an issue. In early and mid-60s cough syrup and pills were the drugs of choice in Bel-Ed, pills with colorful names like "red devils" and "yellow jackets." Me, I liked my brewskis, thank you.

[debold4215]

I worked in a drug store in the early 60's. Elixir of Terpenhydrate and codeine was sold over the counter back then. Certain people ,mostly whites drank it. The heroin dealers in the Baltimore area were well known. They were usually white, very well dressed and usually high. Not too many people paid much attention to them and most avoided heroin use. It was too addictive. They chose to drink alcohol instead which is more accepted socially but also addictive. We then started using marijuana in the mid 60's and for awhile that became the drug of choice for most White people and yes their were the pain killers, the anti anxiety drugs like Valium and other benzodiazepines. I am not quite sure when Blacks started using drugs but heroin seems to be the Blacks drug of choice now. My problem isn't so much drug use per se. True it is self destructive and ruins families but drugs in one form or another has been part of every culture. My problem is that individuals on drugs will rob, steal , kill, and do what ever it takes to get money for their drugs. Incarcerating substance abusers does little to treat their problems but it does cut back on their other criminal behaviors.

[jsud94]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

I usually think of Baltimore and Philadephia.

In both cases, I think it's because both use to have tons of industrial jobs for those without a high education. People used to be able to support their families based on the jobs available. Once the jobs dried up and left, the people had a whole lot less hope and self-worth connected to a job. They just kind of socially drifted into heroin, etc.

That, and it seems like people just don't think of it as badly as in other areas. I think the other poster has a point about the "no heroin" attitude in other parts of the country.

Where I grew up in the Midwest, people liked their hallucinatics and other types of recreational drugs. However, I always felt like Heroin was a monster drug, that no one in their right mind would ever touch. It didn't seem to have any 'value'. I mean, hallucinagetics, arguably, expand your mind. Whether that is true or not, is another matter. But, heroin always just seemed like taking on a purely addict role, with little purpose or point to it. You either had to be DEEPLY romantic (in a Curt Kobain rockstart way and want to visually descend like a in a movie kind of way) or a complete and total tool without any sense of consequences whatsoever.

the midwest actully does have a heroin problem more around the chicago area but still there. And in certain parts of baltimore and philly specifically if you are white you will be flagged down and offered dope by the corner boys. and believe me if it wasent for suburban white kids the guys on the corners of west and east baltimore wouldnt be doing so well

[Michael21214]

You might want to check out the below article from City Paper. In the 18th and 19th centuries, prominent robber baron families such as the Astors and the Peabodys were involved in the "China trade," often moving opium from Turkey to China, and I suppose a bunch of it got here as well.

Baltimore's narcotic history dates back to the 19th-century shipping-driven boom, quietly aided by bringing Turkish opium to China - citypaper.com