- CASES OF NEGLECT
- Justice sought
- Dirty secret
- Dim future
- Struggling back
- Banding together
- Losing lives
- Our view
- Numbers
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74 Deaths locally from opiate overdoses between Jan. 1, 2004 and Aug. 31, 2006.
300 Members registered to support-group Learn to Cope's Web site.
4,434 People from region treated in emergency rooms for opioid-related abuse from 2003-2005.
23 Average age of addicts who died from October through December 2006.
to The Enterprise
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Whitman family thought John Bates ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER 
John Bates of Whitman died in his room at his parent's home from what his father said was a heroin overdose.It was 11:30 p.m. An hour later, his father would find the 22-year-old man dead on the floor, a needle and syringe nearby. His death certificate lists cocaine and narcotic intoxication as the cause of death. The narcotic, his father said, was heroin. "We thought he was doing better," his father, Kenneth Bates, said. "He was doing so good. He seemed to have turned the corner. We didn't expect this." John Bates graduated from South Shore Vocational High School and was working as a floor installer when he died. He would bring home things - items others would call junk - and fix them. "He was so full of life," his father said. John Bates had dabbled in OxyContin but then stopped using the drug. "We could see the difference," his father said. "We thought he put it all behind him." But John was using heroin. Heroin was the one drug Kenneth Bates said he always told his son 
Kenneth Bates, John's father, holds a childhood picture of John as he stands in his son's room where he died of a heroin overdose in October 2006. (Craig Murray/The Enterprise) "Heroin, that's the demon," Kenneth Bates said he would tell his son. The demon would eventually lure his son. In the hours before he died, John had gone to Brockton to buy drugs, friends later told his family. When he returned home that night, nothing seemed amiss. His brother, Patrick, was in the kitchen, getting something out of the refrigerator when his brother strode through. He doesn't remember if they talked. He doesn't think they did. "He just walked by," his brother, Patrick, said. "It was weird. He just walked by and that was the last time I saw him." Kenneth Bates went up to his son's room about an hour later. It was too late. Patrick said there had been several other overdoses in town that month "The EMTs were able to bring them back," he said. "It was too late for him." Maureen Boyle can be reached at mboyle@enterprisenews.com. |
Heroin info
What heroin does
» Gives user a surge of euphoria, or "rush."
» Creates feeling of warmth on skin, a dry mouth and heavy extremities.
» After the rush, users go "on the nod," an alternately wakeful and drowsy state.
» Clouds mental function.
» Depresses respiration.
» Can cause collapsed veins, infection of the heart lining and valves, abscesses, and liver disease over prolonged use.
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Heroin slang
» Big H, smack, hell dust: Heroin
» A-bomb: Marijuana mixed with heroin
» Dragon rock: Heroin mixed with cocaine
» Nose drops: Liquified heroin
Signs of heroin addiction
» Missing spoons, or burn marks on the bottom of spoons
» Belts with teeth marks on them
» Powder on coins
» Itching
» Sweating
» Pinned pupils
» Weight loss
» Dark eye circles
» Track, or needle marks
» Discarded cigarette filters (used to filter the heroin)
When you stop using heroin
» Withdrawal symptoms can appear in a few hours.
» An addict can suffer from vomiting, insomnia, muscle and bone pain, restlessness, diarrhea, and cold flashes.
» Major symptoms peak between 48 and 72 hours after the last dose.
» Symptoms can subside after a week.
» People in poor health can die.
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