Group That Helps Heroin Addicts Encountering Signs Of Overdose Spike On West Side
(CBS) -- The Chicago Recovery Alliance, which helps people addicted to heroin, says its most recent figures suggest a dramatic increase in the number of overdoses on the West Side and in Cicero over the past week.
In the Lawndale office of the Chicago Recovery Alliance, they keep bins of clean needles and other supplies for the taking.
"How are you doing, guy? You need some help?"
Founder of the organization Dan Bigg greets a man who walks in.
"He came in. He was looking for clean syringes and sterile water. And so he picked up both of those things. I asked him if he had an overdose kit. He said he did."
Bigg's mobile clinics have been taking surveys around the city. Asking: Have you overdosed since you were here last? And were you revived by naloxone?
"And those figures at some sites, not the South Side but on the West Side, including Cicero, have gone up three-fold in the last week."