Professionals: The New Heroin Users

The image many of us have of the typical heroin user is a burned-out lowlife huddled in a squalid apartment injecting his drug of choice. But one report said that is no longer the case – professionals are now turning to heroin.

WLWT-TV in Cincinnati reports on a new rehabilitation center that has just opened, and many of its clients are lawyers, doctors and other professionals.

“We’re seeing business professionals, business executives, housewives, college students,” said Dr. Jeffrey Stuckert, of Northland Outpatient Rehab and The Ridge Residential Rehab and Treatment Center. “There’s certainly a problem with doctors, pharmacists, nurses. It knows no socioeconomic boundaries.”

The Ridge sits on 50 secluded acres, and allows addicts to stay close to their families during their recovery.

“We have a home environment so that patients feel like they are in a home, rather than in an institution or hospital,” said Steven Gifford, program director for The Ridge.

But such treatment does not come cheap – a 28-day program starts at $19,000.