Children Stare with Heroin Eyes

Jesse Walker | December 23, 2008

Legislators in Suffolk County, New York, have passed a bill

that creates a Web site to show heroin-related arrests by location, frequency and the age of the culprits.

The bill, dubbed "Natalie's Law" after Massapequa teenager Natalie Ciappa, who died from a heroin overdose in June, passed 17-1, a day after Nassau's legislature approved a similar law that also requires police to notify school districts of heroin arrests.

Ciappa's father, Victor Ciappa, said he never knew the extent of heroin use among teenagers on Long Island until his daughter's death. "We can't stand by and watch another kid die," he said at a news conference before the vote.

Legis. Wayne Horsley (D-Babylon), the bill's sponsor, called heroin "a scourge" that "seems to have caught people by surprise." He urged residents to read the county's heroin Web site once it is created.

A website that tells everyone where the drug cops have been active? What could possibly go wrong with that?

The lone dissenter, Legis. Thomas Barraga (R-West Islip), said broadcasting the location of heroin busts will be more useful to drug dealers and users than to parents hoping to protect their children.

"It's basically, from my perspective, a feel-good bill," Barraga said. "That's fine. Some people have to feel that way."

Comments

|12.23.08 @ 3:44PM|#

Shouldn't Speedy have been on amphetamines? Or was listening to Oliver all day only possible on heroin?

Joshua|12.23.08 @ 3:45PM|#

This is the kind of drug war incompetence I can get behind.

Tyler|12.23.08 @ 3:46PM|#

"It's basically, from my perspective, a feel-good bill," Barraga said. "That's fine. Some people have to feel that way."

He comes off sounding like such a dick, but it's so true.

Paul|12.23.08 @ 3:48PM|#

Without feel-good bills, legislatures would have a greatly reduced workload.

|12.23.08 @ 3:48PM|#

I was going to compliment Jesse on his snark, but Comissioner Barraga's snark brooks no competition.

"That's fine. Some people have to feel that way." He says, in response to a bill aimed at heroin usage.

That's some top-shelf snark right there.

|12.23.08 @ 3:49PM|#

Didja ever notice that after Roy got straight, Great Frog started to suck?

Kevin

Nigel Watt|12.23.08 @ 3:49PM|#

Obligatory Plano clap.

Kolohe|12.23.08 @ 3:50PM|#

I gotta say, as a public transparency tool, a website that shows all arrests (not just heroin), isn't all that bad of an idea. Without names, of course - or maybe with? I suppose how far along the police state road one has traveled.

Ska|12.23.08 @ 3:52PM|#

It is Suffolk County. The cops there make 100K+ a year to make sure kids don't drink in the park. When they aren't giving DWIs to Hamptons party goers during the summer.

|12.23.08 @ 3:52PM|#

I remember as a grade school kid in the early 80s I had a Spiderman that was handed out as anti-drug propaganda. It involved kids smoking weed that had been laced with angel dust, and explaining that this was to increase the high. I remember being super curious as to what that high was, and kind of thrilled that it might be exciting (because it was supposedly so dangerous). Drug propaganda is so fucking stupid.

Anybody else have that Spiderman given out at school?

KG|12.23.08 @ 3:54PM|#

What's funny is of all the DC Superheroes out there, I'd have always expected Green Arrow to be the one that used the ganja.

As for the website, wow, that's just stupid. But hey, better that legislatures make stupid laws that don't really do anything rather than stupid laws that inhibit liberty.

Travis|12.23.08 @ 3:57PM|#

"Legis. John M. Kennedy Jr. (R-Nesconset) said "This will pull away that cloak that drug dealers crave."

Junkies crave drugs, dealers crave cloaks.

Ska|12.23.08 @ 3:58PM|#

Kg - not Black Vulcan?


Why the hell am I black Vulcan?? They don't call Aqua Man white fish!!

|12.23.08 @ 3:59PM|#

Mighty Mouse, Underdog, Popeye... The message is clear. Drugs give you super powers.

|12.23.08 @ 4:02PM|#

called heroin "a scourge" that "seems to have caught people by surprise."

I can see how heroin would catch people by surprise, since it's a brand new drug no one has ever heard of before.

SpongePaul|12.23.08 @ 4:04PM|#

I just have to say, that if you are a parent and you can not tell, or do not know that your child is on drugs. especially a hard drug like heroine, then you had better get to parenting classes or something, because you have failed miserably at being a parent.

Elemenope|12.23.08 @ 4:09PM|#

Why the hell am I black Vulcan?? They don't call Aqua Man white fish!!

Excellent Harvey Birdman reference.

Jesse Walker|12.23.08 @ 4:10PM|#

You can tell this story is rich with stuff to mock when we've gotten this far and no one has even mentioned the "D-Babylon" yet.

the innominate one|12.23.08 @ 4:10PM|#

who wants to bet that Barraga will be defeated in the next election by an opponent running against a "soft on drugs" legislator?

Shannon Love|12.23.08 @ 4:13PM|#

It would seem to me that putting all arrest data up in real time would be a useful transparency tool. I don't know why arrest data should be a secret. It would be very useful to know what the cops are up to all the time.

Papers in small towns used to publish "police blotters" that would report all the police calls and arrest in the community. Putting such data up on the web in an accessible database would be the modern equivalent of that practice.

|12.23.08 @ 4:20PM|#

If I lived on Long Island I'd do heroin too.

Invisible Finger|12.23.08 @ 4:22PM|#

It feels good to be stupid I guess.

</|12.23.08 @ 4:23PM|#

that creates a Web site to show heroin-related arrests by location, frequency and the age of the culprits.

That should make it much easier to find heroin in Suffolk county.Just watch out for the law!
All cities should publish maps of wear the drugs are for sale.

|12.23.08 @ 4:38PM|#

I support any law that makes life easier for drug dealers. They are the forgotten victims of the drug war.

|12.23.08 @ 4:38PM|#

Oh, you mean they should adopt Tony's Law.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30925

horsewithnonick|12.23.08 @ 4:47PM|#

"It's basically, from my perspective, a feel-good bill," Barraga said. "That's fine. Some people have to feel that way."

In fact, one might say they were addicted to such bills...

|12.23.08 @ 4:50PM|#

But ... but ... think of the property values! They'll nosedive in areas reported as being in the thick of the heroin trade, and their owne... oh wait. That's right. Never mind.

MNG|12.23.08 @ 5:34PM|#

"Anybody else have that Spiderman given out at school?"

I remember it, they handed it out at my school too.

"of all the DC Superheroes out there, I'd have always expected Green Arrow to be the one that used the ganja"

His character would indeed call for it, but I imagine the old comics code prevented that.

ed|12.23.08 @ 5:58PM|#

The bill, dubbed "Natalie's Law"

Of course! Still waiting for "Caylee's Law."
Just a matter of time, right Nancy Grace?

jtuf|12.23.08 @ 6:05PM|#

MNG, yeah, the Hulk once experimented with different "serums" to control his transformations, because the authors weren't allowed to have a hero try "drugs".

jtuf|12.23.08 @ 6:09PM|#

The bill, dubbed "Natalie's Law" after Massapequa teenager Natalie Ciappa, who died from a heroin overdose in June, passed 17-1, a day after Nassau's legislature approved a similar law that also requires police to notify school districts of heroin arrests.

Ciappa's father, Victor Ciappa, said he never knew the extent of heroin use among teenagers on Long Island until his daughter's death. "We can't stand by and watch another kid die," he said at a news conference before the vote.

So if he knew the local statistics for teen drug use, he might have guessed that his daughter was on heroin? Wouldn't talking to her have been more effective? Spending enough time with her to notice when she was high could have worked to. How in the world could searching for stats on the web replace face time with your actual kids?

Franklin Harris|12.23.08 @ 8:34PM|#

Ah, the good old days when DC Comics tried to be relevant - but just sucked. The artwork was cool, though. Too bad Neal Adams is nuts.

Alice Bowie|12.23.08 @ 10:13PM|#

Perhaps we shouldn't KEEP this type of DOPE Alive

Alice Bowie|12.23.08 @ 10:20PM|#

Heroin has been Killing Black/Latino kids for over 60years...The ITALIAN Mafia (not to say ALL ITALIAN PEOPLE are responsible...just a couple of criminals that were ITALIAN) pumped HEROIN throughout the Ghettos.

Back then, HEROIN was never a problem...It only KILLED Niggers.

Well, now that white kids are dying from it...We can't stand by and watch another (WHITE) kid die.

Its funny how much we fear the DRUGS distributed to destroy black people...Drugs we pushed upon them.

Its funny how much we fear the IEDs that blow off the legs of our young soldiers in IRAQ...IEDs that we SOLD to Iraq.

Its funny how much we fear NUCLEAR Weapons blowing up in one of our major cities...The NUCLEAR Weapons that WE CREATED.

|12.23.08 @ 11:38PM|#

Alice,

Did you actually participate in the terrible activities you mention in CAPS?

I know I didn't, and I'm wondering who you're referring to when you say "WE CREATED" these things.

-jcr

Yuri Olov|12.24.08 @ 1:34AM|#

By definition, you don't sell IED's. Not on a commercial basis.

|12.24.08 @ 9:10AM|#

Why the hell am I black Vulcan?? They don't call Aqua Man white fish!!

I have pure electricity...in my pants.

http://snackfeed.com/videos/detail/77403d44-d881-102b-a525-00304897c9c6

Elemenope|12.24.08 @ 9:42AM|#

"Quick under the desk! If you're not careful you're gonna get us all whacked! Mmm...body in a woodchipper. Minty!"

...|12.24.08 @ 12:32PM|#

Ha, this reminds me of a couple years back when we were looking for some pot in Philly and I remembered an NPR program I'd heard about the most active drug corners (obviously with a "what are we going to do about this??" angle). So we drove down to 50th and Lancaster and bought $20 worth of pot (in four nickel bags, of course) from a lady smoking a blunt on the sidewalk.

|12.24.08 @ 1:50PM|#

What ever. Prohibition Never ever worked and will not today thats for sure. Regulate the mild stuff. Legalize pot and tax it provides at least 4 billion dollars to put towards the Hard stuff like Crack and Meth. Those are the killers and stuff that cause killers. Check out countries where even heroin is regulated to registered addicts. Much less crime and addiction because they fund their recovery programs instead of beating their heads against a losing war on drugs. Yes they still need to be illegal but learn from the countries who have figured out how to make the best of it.

Mr Lizard|12.24.08 @ 8:27PM|#

Actually in my homeland we have this

http://www.tampagov.net/appl_my_tampa_address/police_calls.asp

Not quite as descriptive but it plots them on a google map.

Steve Clay|12.27.08 @ 12:04AM|#

Re: a parent not noticing their kid was "on heroin", the girl needn't have been an addict to OD; it could've happened on her first try.

I don't understand what makes people "try" heroin. I think without pushers (thanks prohibition) far fewer people would ingest stuff like this.

DoneZone|12.31.08 @ 6:59PM|#

Steve is correct in both points he makes. People have died on their first time shooting up. And indeed, without pushers fewer people would try the stuff. Why do people try it? For many, the answer is simple, BECAUSE IT IS THERE. Because it's readily available, Indeed, thanks to prohibition, which makes it an extremely expensive commoditity, it is in people's interest to sell it to make a big profit.

Science, reason, has demonstrated that if the pushers are taken out of the picture, there is less availability and few people end up trying it. The most recent example of this is Switzerland where nearly two decades of legally prescribed heroin for addicts has resulted in the near disappearance of the street scene for heroin, and therefore, there's no dope around for youngsters to dabble in. All the older junkies went on the program, and they no longer were clients for pushers, and therefore the pushers went out of business, and aren't around to hook the next generation. Seriously, why would a relatively conservative society such as Switzerland vote to legitimize heroin maintenance clinics? Because they work. They've had a positive impact upon their society. Here's hoping similar sanity worms its way into American drug policy.