On the Beat in Bluffton

Friday, November 14, 2014

N-B Links: As predicted, heroin has arrived in Wells County

Last fall the News-Banner published a 10-day, 12-part series on drugs in Wells County. A year later, we re-examine the continuing impact drugs have in our community.

In the first part of a two-part series – Saturday, Nov. 15: Local drug investigators talk about what they're seeing in the community with heroin, and a therapist talks about changing the addiction stigma with education.

Scroll below for a heroin fact sheet from the Drug Enforcement Administration.


• There was a 2013 overdose in Wells County linked to a sandy brown, gritty, wet heroin. It almost looked like brown sugar.
 It was believed to have come here through Dayton, Ohio.

• Local officers are also seeing a “gravel,” gray, rocky heroin.
It is believed to be coming here through Fort Wayne via Chicago.

• There is also a “black tar” heroin, but it isn’t sought after here, officers say; it’s just not part of the local drug culture.



Sgt. Dan Mawhorr of the Indiana State Police will be in town for the second time this year to talk about drug abuse to the public.
This time, he will talk on prescription drug use and how it relates to the growing heroin problem. The event begins at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, at the Wells County Community Center, 1240 4-H Park Road in Bluffton.
Mawhorr will speak for two hours beginning at 2 p.m.
At 1:30 p.m, before his presentation, is the distribution of copies of the Wells County Substance Use Protocol, which includes substance use services available locally and other information on all types of substances. Bound manuals will be available to schools, agencies, companies, churches and similar groups to use.
The manual will also be available digitally.
Mawhorr, of the Fort Wayne ISP Post, spoke in February about the dangers of methamphetamine. He was undercover for nine years, spent six years with a meth lab team, and has been a district road sergeant for the last eight years, serving Wells, Adams, Blackford and Jay counties.

Learn more in the Saturday News-Banner.

Coming Monday, Nov. 17: Child removals are on the rise in Wells Circuit Court, causing an increasing need for foster parents.


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