Dr. Kristine Matson, MD paid a visit to my office (AKA the GBM) this morning and I twisted her arm into posing for a photo (assisted by Ann Etter) with a copy of last Saturday’s Northfield News.
For the first time, a study of local heroin addicts — all in treatment — takes a look inside their lives: When they began using drugs, how they got into heroin, who their influences were and why they decided to get treatment.
Northfield physician Kristine Matson conducted the study. And though the number of subjects was small, Matson believes there is much to be learned from her research.
Six months ago, Charles Reznikoff’s Northfield patients fell into two specific groups: Those in treatment for addiction to prescription pain medications and a cohort of 25- to 27-year olds and their siblings being treated for heroin abuse.
By the first of the year, Reznikoff was dealing with another cohort of patients: Teenage heroin addicts with no connection to what the opiate addiction specialist often refers to as the 84-85ers. It’s a change that troubles the physician who works part-time in the city’s Northfield Hospital clinic.
I’ve heard from some young people (twenty-somethings) this week that one of their friends committed suicide and other died of a heroin overdose.
I’m not providing names of the deceased, as I’ve not talked directly with their immediate families. Please refrain from referring to them by name in the comments.
The sad events prompted one of them to ask via email:
This is now the third person I have at least been acquainted with that has died due to this drug. This news comes shortly after hearing about another of my peers passing away due to suicide. The fifth person I know since I graduated in 2005. Three of my classmates or 1% of the 2005 graduating class have also committed suicide since graduation.
Which leads me to ask the question, "Does growing up in Northfield lead you to have a higher risk of depression?" Can you run a story on what options there are in or around Northfield for at-risk youth. Honestly, something has to be done.
Seven Rice County residents accused of dealing heroin are awaiting second hearings after arraignments at Rice County District Court on Monday morning.
Some arraignments occurred in courtroom 2, where Judge Thomas Neuville presided, and some in courtroom 3, where Judge Bernard E. Borene presided. The judges set bail of varying amounts for each of the defendants.
Alexander Bruce Benson, 19, of 300 Aster Dr., Northfield, is facing two charges of aiding and/or abetting in the sale of heroin on Sept. 29 near Greenvale Apartments on Greenvale Avenue, which is a public housing zone, and one charge of aiding and/or abetting the sale of heroin.
The apartment complex was home to Jillian Marie Wetzel, 25, who authorities determined died of an accidental heroin overdose on Aug. 23. Wetzel’s death by overdose was the most recent of five of such fatalities to occur in Northfield in the past year and a half.
And one thing I was never completely confident of was the breadth of the “problem.” I could never really get an answer, even after I began working here, on the veracity of Smith’s numbers. He said that as many as 250 young people were abusing opiates in Northfield. I’m pretty confident now that he was right.
Reporters Suzanne Rook, David Henke and I have interviewed dozens of individuals on both sides of the battle: those who either knew of someone or themselves took or sold heroin and OxyContin (a pharmaceutical opiate) and those who were trying to save the abusers. We’ve spoken with medical officials, school officials, state health officials, county health and public safety officials and statisticians.
Here are the links to the Northfield News ‘Heroin One year later’ series of stories (final six not yet published):
D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) “… is a police officer-led series of classroom lessons that teaches children from kindergarten through 12th grade how to resist peer pressure and live productive drug and violence-free lives.”
In City Administrator Al Roder’s weekly memo for Dec. 17-21:
On 12-14-2007 Northfield Police Department interviewed police officers that had expressed an interest of becoming DARE instructors. Northfield Schools and Northfield Police Department Captains conducted the interviews. Northfield Police Department Officers Blaine Anderson and Paul Haider were selected. The officers will attend state sponsored training from January 7 until January 18, 2008. Northfield Police Department officers will run the first ever DARE program in the Northfield school district starting in February 2008. This program has been put together with cooperation from Northfield Schools and Northfield Police Department.
Numerous studies have been done on the program since its inception in 1983 in urban Los Angeles. The most well-known of these conclude two things: that DARE doesn’t do much to keep kids away from drugs and alcohol, and that it helps form a bond between students and law enforcement. But eight months after the city was rocked by the news of possible drug use problems, Northfield can scarcely afford to do nothing.
I take issue with the last sentence of the editorial.
“…possible drug use problems”? I say our town definitely has drug abuse problems.
“…afford to do nothing”? Much has been done since the heroin story broke last summer.
But my bigger questions are:
Given the questions about the effectiveness of DARE (see the section in the Wikipedia entry on DARE re: the critical view), should our policy makers (the Northfield School Board and the Northfield City Council) be more involved in deciding whether the time is right for DARE here in Northfield? I can find nothing in the council or school board minutes where the issue has been discussed.
The Carletonian published its first issue of the year on Friday and their lead article was Northfield’s heroin story, along with an accompanying interview of a former addict. (This first issue is not yet available via their online service but these photos I took of the paper are large enough to make the text readable. Click to enlarge.)
Left and center: Chief of Police’s heroin claims cause controversy; Right: A former Northfield High School heroin addict offers perspective.
Two other Northfielders have publicly weighed in on the heroin issue recently. Left: Dale Snesrud, former co-owner of the Olympus Athletic Club, wrote a letter to the Northfield News titled Holy discontent with heroin. Right: Craig Ellingboe, Pastor of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, preached a sermon title “Holy Discontent” on Aug. 26 that Dale references in his letter. Keep reading for the full text of their remarks.
We’ve been getting some heat for our handling of the heroin story.
More precisely, I’m getting heat, for example Anne Bretts here, John Thomas here and here, Frank Anderson here on LG and here on N.org. There are probably others I’ve missed. I’m sure many others of you have criticisms that you’ve not expressed, either because you’re shy or you think I’ll bite your heads off.
So let me address the chonology of events and then let’s discuss whatever else. And despite the photo of my two black eyes from a few years back (click to enlarge), I’m not prone to violence or defensiveness. I’ve got a pretty thick skin so no need to be gentle with your criticisms.
Was this citizen journalism? I think much of it was. And some members of the mainstream media have seen what’s been going on here on Locally Grown and realized that between the citizens blogging and the citizens commenting, we’ve managed to offer something unique and valuable that can’t easily be done otherwise.
But I could be wrong, so Anne, John, Frank, and others, please repost (copy/paste is fine) your criticisms and I’ll address them. Others (Ross and Tracy, too!), chime in as you see fit.
Northfield Police Chief Gary Smith and Sergeant Roger Schroeder (left photo) held a press conference this afternoon at the Community Resource Bank in Northfield, announcing the “Not in my backyard” campaign to combat the heroin problem in the Northfield area. Twin Cities media were there. Here are some links to the press coverage:
Griff Wigley: Here’s the so-called ‘gag order’ memo from Public Safety Chief Mark Taylor, directed to all Firefighters on April 2, 2011 before they were interviewed by the consultant Michelle Soldo: Read between the lines of Item...
kiffi summa: Our mothers consider the ‘bunched panties’ remark too squalid to pass either their sainted lips, or those of their darling daughters… and seriously doubt whether it was said during your father’s time!
Jane Moline: Griff: you really didn’t know my mother and how do you even know if I wear panties?
Griff Wigley: Jane/Kiffi, I did some family of origin research and it turns out your mothers actually said “A stitch in time saves nine” and “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” about 3-4 times more often than...
kiffi summa: Jane: Both our Mom’s were smart, and they knew about the problems with “borrowing trouble” i.e don’t stir up problems that are non existent; there’s enough current problems to deal with, and even some of...
Vicki Dilley: How many lives can we even begin to count that have touched by the Youth Exchange program? Northfield has been involved in Youth Exchange since 1969 when we hosted our first student…since then 100′s of High School...
Tom Durkin: This event supports one of the crown jewels of the Northfield Rotary Club – the Youth Exchange Program. Northfield can be proud that we send out more than fifteen students annually for year abroad study programs. We also host several...
john george: Kathie- I knew I was sticking my neck out on that one!
Kathie Galotti: Geez John. Don’t get Griff restarted on the geese!
john george: Yes, more beaches would certainly accomodate more geese. We have to remember to be waterfowl friendly.
Susan Hvistendahl: I totally agree with you re the need for more beaches in Northfield, having just returned from a week in Puerto Vallarta. Could have had rum punches there but….well, after we visited a local tequila distillery and got to...
Bright Spencer: Oh, you both look so happy! Thanks for sharing. More pics please!
kiffi summa: Griff: whither goest thy right arm if it starts to “whither” (sic) ? sorry; couldn’t resist… stuck at home with a bad knee provides way too much time on computer!
Bright Spencer: i’ve been looking thru a site, crazyguyonabike.com that has lots of journals and photos from around the world.
jane fenton: Congrats, Griff! That’s my son Cliff in the orange hat. He’s revamped the recycling bin prototype. You should see it!
Griff Wigley: Don, I’ll keep ping pong in mind. I’d hate to have my right arm start to whither from a lack of racquetball. In the meantime, I’m trying to excite as many Northfielders as I can about mountain biking. I’ll...
john george: Griff- Iris will have to work real hard to keep you in focus on everything else. I shutter to think where this could go.
Griff Wigley: Name: The Local Joint Description: A handmade and vintage collective in Northfield, MN. COLLECTING.CREATING.COLLABORAT ING. Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheLoc alJoint Nfld News: Store to open in former ‘digs’ space
David Beimers: Hmmm… fans? air conditioners? ice cream?
Jessica Paxton: I know. But I don’t wanna spill the (cool) beans!
Megan Tsui: Edward, Sorry you weren’t able to attend. We’ll be posting notes from the meeting on the NEC website and if you send me your email, I’ll make sure you get a copy! If you (or anyone else!) would like to chat about it...
Edward Smith: I wanted to attend this, but was unable. Does anyone know if there will be a summary posted anywhere?
Kathie Galotti: My kid had a pretty decent AP Environmental Science class 2 years ago….he’s not a great math/science student, but this one got him interested in at least knowing enough science to create good policies. I remember...
Paul Zorn: A few years ago one of my daughters spent a year working in Copenhagen, largely in an office setting. All desks in her office could be raised or lowered to permit either standing or sitting positions. I have no idea whether such...
Griff Wigley: In today’s Strib: Office-dwellers stand up to ‘sitting disease’ Dr. James Levine has reviewed the statistics: One in three Minnesota adults is either diabetic or pre-diabetic, and one in four is obese. And he thinks...
Bright Spencer: The All Pro Game last Sunday between the AFC and the NFC was so enjoyable. The stess, the anger, the anxiety all gone…well I didn’t watch all of it, as I rarely do watch an entire game, usually just the beginning and...
Griff Wigley: Today’s Strib: Hockey safety goal expanded to youth In an unprecedented mid-year change, Minnesota Hockey is toughening the penalties for checking from behind and boarding. The change will affect 40,000 hockey players in the...
Bright Spencer: I like hockey and all sports very much. I was a star basketball player in my day. I don’t remember anyone suffering any major injuries in all my hs and college days. I feel certain that coach’s know who does what and...
john george: You are correct. That is why I didn’t allow my children to attack the character of their siblings just to support their position. There do need to be some kind of ground rules in any discussion so as to keep individual...
kiffi summa: The issue could be considered to be: what is “conflict”, and what are two sides of a discussion… see #33 re: the Mayor’s admonition to Peter Dahlen at the joint Council/ChartComm meeting. I don’t see how...
john george: Kiffi- This is a good article, and I agree with most of it. Just thinking about my kids in their youth, there was always some conflict between them, but our goal as parents wasn’t to force them into some weiner form but to help...
kiffi summa: A very interesting article in the Jan.30th New Yorker magazine on the nature of the dynamics of creative discussion; it’s entitled “Groupthink; the brainstorming myth”. Based on studies done by a psych professor at...
Griff Wigley: Kiffi/Kathie, I didn’t have that reaction. But I’ve put up a new blog post to discuss it and everything else related to the Fire Department so let’s shift the discussion there.
Kathie Galotti: I read Betsey’s blog and, like most of Betsey’s blog entries, found it well-written and making a very good point. Though I agree that geographic districts aren’t the only way to represent different constituencies,...
john george: Griff- The NN editorial presents the difference between geographic representation and ideological representation. Right now, the wards establish geographic representation. With this approach, depending upon the voter turnout, a person...
kiffi summa: I hope that people will use the link here on LG to read the current posting by Councilor Buckheit on her blog, re: wards versus all at-large, and take the opportunity to comment. Once again, the NFNews has not given a very well...
Griff Wigley: Nfld News editorial: Keep the current ward system intact
Sean Hayford Oleary: In any case, this issue doesn’t seem like it needs to be another opportunity to dis/agree with the current council. Regardless of how focused on the downtown (or not) they are, it’s clear this change would not...
Griff Wigley: In today’s NY Times: Turning to Kettlebells to Ease Back Pain Kettlebells, cast-iron weights that have been used for centuries to train Russian soldiers and athletes, appear to be a promising therapy for back and neck pain, new...
Sandy Vesledahl: UPDATE ON RHONDA: We are very happy to report that Rhonda was adopted over the weekend by a local family. Rhonda’s new mom is a Family Counselor and Rhonda will be going to her office with her and helping with her clients. So...
Megan Tsui: Griff, The NEC is moving forward with the idea of a non-profit Coworking Incubator/Accelerator space. Megan
Megan Tsui: What do you think? Come to the Community Dialogue and tell us! January 31st from 2 to 4 pm at the Archer House lower level conference room. Share your ideas, thoughts, and dreams about a Coworking Incubator/Accelerator space in...
kiffi summa: I would hope the City’s Historic Preservation Commission would explore this option, and the appropriateness/allowability for use on properties within the Historic District. Thanks, Jim.
Jim Haas: I was reading a story by Porter Fox about his visit to Copenhagen. He mentioned in passing that the city is vigilant about removing graffiti using high-pressure washers with ice crystals as a mild abrasive. I did a little rudimentary...
kiffi summa: The LWV observer reports are meant to be a summary of actions taken, not a ‘blow by blow’ transcript. This is the reason that anyone deeply interested should watch the meeting for themself, if they want a full...
Dr. Kristine Matson, MD paid a visit to my office (AKA the GBM) this morning and I twisted her arm into posing for a photo (assisted by Ann Etter) with a copy of last Saturday’s Northfield News. 
Today’s paper has a follow-up article, Heroin reaching new group of users, featuring Dr. Charles Reznikoff, Addiction Medicine Specialist, Opiate Agonist Therapy (OAT) Clinic at the Northfield Hospital. 
I’ve heard from some young people (twenty-somethings) this week that one of their friends committed suicide and other died of a heroin overdose. 
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