Hundreds say 'no more' to heroin epidemic (WITH VIDEO)

Hundreds filed into La Salle-Peru Township High School’s Matthiessen Auditorium, where discussion of the Illinois Valley’s heroin epidemic took center stage.

The message of Tuesday’s Heroin and Opioid Abuse in the Illinois Valley forum was of the diverse and wide reach of heroin addiction.

“This affects everyone,” said Tim Ryan, founder of recovery program A Man in Recovery and former addict.

Ryan said his program had worked with heroin addicts as young as 12 and as old as 78 this year. He also noted he had attended 68 funerals this year.

Ryan cited himself as proof that people far outside people’s conception of an addict can become addicted to heroin or other opiates.

“I’ve been a millionaire three times over,” Ryan said. “I’ve owned 15 businesses, and I’ve buried a lot of them because of my drug and alcohol addiction.”

Ryan found himself in jail after nearly killing two people by driving while intoxicated.

“Prison saved my life,” Ryan said.

Kyle “The Kid” Siminari, a 19-year-old recovering addict also with a Man in Recovery, shared his personal experience with heroin, as well.

“I first started dabbling in drugs when I was 13, because I was sad and lonely, and my life didn’t have a direction,” Siminari said.

Siminari said he began experimenting with cannabis before trying pills and progressing to what he thought was ketamine.

“There I was,” Siminari said. “I had a heroin problem at 15.”

To effectively hide his addiction, Siminari said he searched for signs of opiate addiction online and learned to hide symptoms such as: isolation, fluctuating groups of friends, lack of hygiene, lack of appetite, an odd sleep schedule, mood swings and spending habits.

Siminari said he was two months sober before he admitted to his parents he had been abusing heroin.

“That’s how good we addicts are at lying,” Siminari said,

In addition to people in recovery, the meeting hosted by City of Peru and Peru police was attended by government officials, healthcare professionals, educators and clergy from across the Illinois Valley.

“We’re not going to be able to arrest ourselves out of this problem,” said. Peru police chief Doug Bernabei.

Instead, he said it would take efforts from the entire Illinois Valley community.

Doug Bernabei said this was the intent of the program’s comprehensive inclusion, which he hoped it would make this discussion more effective than a similar meeting held more than a decade earlier at Hall High School.

“We brought real people up on the stage tonight to make sure you believe us that this is a problem,” Bernabei said.

Lori Brown, founder of Buddy’s Purpose — named for her son, who died of an overdose —reminded those in attendance of the situation’s reality.

“I do not want another parent to lose a child,” Brown said. “That’s why we’re here.”

Brown and Ryan both advocated for parents to be knowledgeable of their children’s lives, including checking their room and considering phone apps or computer programs to monitor for drug-related phrases.

“They’re kids,” Brown said. “They make dumb choices. Dumb choices turn into a disease.”

The hundreds of people in the audience responded strongly to the messages with applause, and one woman, Alma Fuente, shared her personal loss and approval of the roundtable during a question and answer session.

“I’m glad this is happening,” Fuente said.

She said she lost her daughter to heroin two months ago and was pleased to see the community attuned to the heroin problem.

“There’s not a day that goes by I don’t miss her,” Fuente said. “I know those demons aren’t with her no more.”

All health professionals, law officers and addicts in recovery agreed that if someone knows someone struggling with heroin or opiate addiction, it is important they do something to help move the addict toward recovery.

“Five percent of opiate addicts make it to clean and sober,” Ryan said.

He said the other options were death or life spent bouncing around the prison system.

“Once you’ve crossed into opiates, there is no off switch,” Ryan said.

Buddy’s Purpose can be reached at Buddyspurpose@yahoo.com or (815) 993-6294, A Man in Recovery can be reached at (844) 611-4673 or amaninrecovery@gmail.com. North Central Behavioral Health Services can be reached at (815) 224-1610, and Illinois Valley Community Hospital can be contacted at (815) 223-3300.

Ben Hohenstatt can be reached at (815)220-6932 or perureporter@newstrib.com. Follow him on Twitter @NT_Peru.